Maximum Ride: The Mermaid Experiment
by Iced-Tea-XD
Summary: Maximum Ride, a sixteen year old girl, discovers something in the water on her family's private beach one night, and sees a handsome, dark, and mysterious merman. Will she be able to unveil her destiny? Read and Review to find out! AU FAX!
1. Disturbance

**Alright, I'm starting a new story, in which I believe is, if not totally, then semi-original. The flock doesn't have wings here; instead they have fishlike tails. Max and Fang already had gills in the real stories, so I'm just giving them the other half of the deal. I hope for reviews on this, so please make my day, and review; its really not that hard. You just have to type an exclamation mark for like, or a question mark for dislike. Remember, original Max Ride fanfic story! Mmkay? Mmkay. Kaythanks:) Enjoy ;)**

The cool breeze whipped across my face as I rested on my pier, the setting sun penetrating my closed eyelids. My feet hung in the ocean water, and I laid back so that my arms were supporting my weight, my face turned towards the sky. It was places like this where I felt so at peace and carefree, just as any other sixteen year old should be.

My name's Maximum Ride. My family and I own this private beach that stretched out for about a mile or so. Let me tell you now, its not easy being me. I'm not trying to be melodramatic or anything, but it truly is, which is why I'm enjoying some 'me time' while I can out here. You see, I am sixteen years old, and I basically mother four other kids.

Those kids being Iggy, who is about six months younger than me, but is blind, and still needs a mother figure. Then there is Nudge, who is thirteen, then Gazzy at ten, and Angel, my baby, at eight. I basically raised them, ever since we met in an orphanage. I met Iggy when we were about four years old, Nudge when she was two, Gazzy when he was three, and Angel since she was an infant. That's why she's considered my own baby. I took care of them all at the orphanage, saved them from abusive foster homes, and stuck with them through thick and thin, which is why they live with me now.

When I was just born, I was kidnapped from the hospital by some crazy scientists who wanted to do genetic engineering with me. I was saved by one scientist who had dome decency, and was put into the foster care system. About a month ago, I just found my real parents, and I refused to go with them without my family from the orphanage. My dad turned out to be the scientist that saved me, my mom is a veterinarian, and I have two half siblings: Ari, who is on my dad, Jeb's, side, and Ella, who is on my mom, Valencia's, side. They are both younger than me (Ari is nine, and Ella is fourteen). They are really kind, loving, and caring, but I don't know if I can trust Jeb. He was a scientist at the School, but I don't know if he still is, or not. I'm going to find out, though.

I opened my eyes to stare out over the pure blue water. The sun suddenly glinted off of something in the water, so I shielded my eyes with one arm, trying to see what the H-E-double hockey sticks was making the light reflect. It was gone about two seconds after it came, and I was left sitting there, confused. I thought I had seen a head in the water, but my family is inside, and this is a private beach, so...its pretty weird. Looking at the ripples in the ocean, I stood up to see if I could get a better look into the water from here.

I stared around the spot where I saw the person, fixing the strap of my yellow tank top. The dust from the pier's wood strayed on my hands, so I wiped them on my dark blue jean shorts. I could see something dark contrasting in the light blue ocean water, so I squinted to focus better on it.

"Max!" Dr. M (my mom) called out for me. "Dinner!"

"Coming!" I yelled back to her, but straying behind a moment or two longer, watching the dark figure move around a little on the bottom of the ocean. Honestly, it looked like an almost human figure, but I really couldn't tell. I shrugged. It might have just been my paranoia, or something close to that.

I walked down the gravel path back to the house, kicking every large chunk of stray gravel I saw on my way. I thought about my family and the mystery thing in the ocean. If worst comes to worst, I'll make sure my family is safe, whether that means I am, or not.

I'd give up my life for them in a heartbeat if I had to.

Entering through the back door, the smell of good old mashed potatoes and meatloaf wafted over me, and I inhaled the scent. Iggy usually always cooks dinner, since he's the best.

And, yeah, he's blind.

I, being a black belt and having 20/20 vision, yet I can't cook for my life. Pathetic, right?

I took a seat at the already-set-table, in between Iggy and Ella. Ari sat across from me, with Gazzy and Angel at his sides, and Dr. M and Jeb sat at either end of the table.

Everyone took hands, and I began to say grace. "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, in which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen."

"Amen." Everyone followed after me. We dropped hands and began eating.

I'm not sure if I'm religious, or not. After being at the School for two or three years, I'm not too certain if I can believe that anything out there in the world is good. Jeb and Dr. M are religious, therefore we basically have to say grace, and go to church and stuff now.

"So, Max," Jeb began. I recently learned that he always starts off that way when he's pretty sure I may be defiant. What can I say? I have such a way of words.... "Your mother and I agreed that you should start school in two weeks from Monday." He kept going before I could have a chance to interject. "This way you all have time to get more familiar with your new home, and prepare."

"Oooooooooh! School! Yay! I can't wait to make new friends in this new school! ZOMG that means that we totally have to go clothes shopping, and, like, we can all pick our first day of school outfits, and then a bunch of jeans and tank tops and tops to go over them, with, of course, new shoes, and they have to be like in each color so that they match with the outfits, and maybe, Dr. M, maybe you can even allow me to wear make up!" Nudge rambled. Now, this kid definitely has a way with words. No, seriously, she never shuts up. We call her the Nudge Channel; all Nudge, all the time.

"Sure, sweetheart, but I'll need to see you before you walk out of this house." Dr. M replied.

"Okay, sweet! Thanks!" Nudge replied, about to jump out of her seat to give Dr. M a huge bear hug, that is, until she saw the look I gave her. I'll tell you right now, I'm not a wimp. I've trained myself to withstand pain, and even how to fight. I may not have lots of strength, but I'm fast, agile, and graceful; my death glares could even kill.

When everyone finished dinner, I cleaned up. Yep, I cleared the whole table, and did all the dishes by myself. I didn't want to have to bother Jeb and Dr. M to clean up, after everything they're doing to provide for us. And, Iggy cooked, and I'm a push over to the little kids, so I just did them. By the time I was done, it was 9:30 pm. I tucked the kids in, said goodnight to Jeb and Dr. M, and headed to my room for bed.

I changed into my pajamas, which were purple plaid pants, and a purple tank top, bushed my teeth, and laid down in bed. The window was right to the side of my head, so I stared out it while I tried to sleep.

The full moon was huge in the night sky, glinting off the calm water, surrounded by scattered stars.

I couldn't sleep. It was too gorgeous out to go to sleep, and the fact that there was someone in the ocean had me worrying for the safety of my family.

I got out of bed, and threw my purple, fuzzy slippers out the window. I stuffed my sheets with a body pillow, and a few clothes. I then stuffed two socks with other socks, and placed them under the blanket towards the end of my bed, sticking them out just a tiny bit so that they looked like my feet. And yes, this is all necessary, because someone might come in and check on me at night, and what would they think if they didn't see me in bed?

I stuck my upper half of my body out the window, and saw the tiny bit of roof left under me. I grabbed the top of my window frame, and pulled my right leg out. Placing it on the little bit of the ledge, making sure I wouldn't slip, I put my weight on it to pull my left leg out, so I was standing on the tiny ledge, holding on to a window frame. I sidestepped over more to the right, where there was more roof, and I sat down on the very edge. I then shifted my whole body towards the corner of the house, where the garage was placed just underneath, and, thankfully, Jeb just so happened to park his large van outside. I slowly crept over the ledge, and stretched my leg out so that my toe just touched the roof of his van, and then placed the rest of my foot on it, the threw the rest of my body onto the van, landing on the balls of my feet, steadying myself with my hands out in front of me. No noise was made this entire time.

I slipped off the front of the van, and retrieved my slippers from the bushes in front of the house, throwing them on really quick. I trudged down the gravel path across the white sand, staring out into the beautiful scene in front of me, noticing when I got to the pier. I slowly made my way down it, sitting down at the end of it. Alright, I'd never tell anyone this, but, I can't swim. Yeah, the indestructible, fierce, tough, Maximum Ride, that can kick anyone's ass from here to Alaska and back, can't swim. I looked over the edge of the pier, down to the water. I was a good ten feet above the water at this point of the pier, and at least a mile away from the shore. Yeah, I wouldn't be able to swim back to shore from here by myself without drowning.

Suddenly, the pier rocked, as if something slammed into a support beam. I instantly tensed up, and stood up. I peered over the edge to see what the heck that was, but I couldn't see anything; it was too dark. Whatever it was that slammed into the support beam now slammed into it again, only harder, making me lose my balance. I shot my arms out, trying to steady myself, letting out slight whimpers of struggle here and there, only to fall off the pier.

**Uh-Oh! She fell off the pier, but, not only can she not swim, but there's something(s?) mysterious out there! Only, what is it (/are they?)? Want to find out? Well, review!**

**Kaythanks :)**

**\/**


	2. Strange

**So, oh ehm gee, I'd like to say thank you to a few people. Sure, its not a lot, but its all that I ask for. So I'd like to thank:**

**Story Fav's: PercabethForeve rWarriorsForeve r, lololololhahahahalololololol, and angeldaemon123 ! :)**

**Story Alerts: PercabethForeve rWarriorsForeve r, and Keggy and Heggy ! :)**

**And Reviews: PercabethForeve rWarriorsForeve r, dropthaworld, and Nicole ! :)**

**To Nicole~Thanks for the review, but I can't really tell if you like the story or not lol :) I'm guessing you do, since you told me to finish it, but you didn't seem too enthusiastic haha ;) thanks anyway :)**

**Oh my Gosh, sorry, I'm just really happy ^_^**

**Remember to review so that I know what you think of my story; it also helps me to update faster. Plus, if there's something you don't like, or you think can be improved, feel free to let me know *_* Also, review just to make me feel happy. I've been very stressed out lately what with both family AND school issues and drama, plus the fact that I lost my phone T_T...so a simple review is all I'm asking to make me just that much happier c(: **

**Here's the next chapter; ENJOY!**

I saw myself approaching the deep ocean water in slow motion. I didn't even bother screaming; no one would be able to hear me this far out. I just stared wide eyed at the water, my mouth open, screaming silently. My feet crossed under me, preparing to enter the cold water. My arms waved out at my sides, as if I could just fly out of this situation (**AN: Ironic, much?**). I sucked in a breath and squeezed my eyes shut, remembering at the last minute.

I plunged into the deep, cold water. What was once calm waves turned into huge waves from the creature in it. The force of my hitting the surface of the water shot salty water up my nose, leaving a burning sensation in its path. I ignored the pain and the urge to cough, to open my eyes and desperately see around me. I saw the surface of the water not too far above me, and I kicked and slapped with all my might to resurface and catch another breath.

When I reached the surface, I started coughing, and I knew I wouldn't be able to stay up for long. I didn't really care about what was in the water right then, it could've been Jaws for all I knew, but it wouldn't really matter if I drowned either way. I kept kicking and smacking, going into a panic attack, and I continued to bob in and out of the water. I remained like that for about a minute or two, but fatigue was slowly creeping up on me, and I felt myself go under water.

At first, I squeezed my eyes shut so that I couldn't see anything threatening in the water besides the water itself, but then I said to myself, 'What the heck? I'm gonna die either which way, so why not face the critter that did this to me?'. I opened my eyes and peered out into the open water, but it was too dark to see almost anything.

That is, until I saw this huge sharklike creature, looking like a mix of half man-half shark, coming towards me at a taunting speed. Crap, I'm not waiting around here to just die. An adrenaline rush gave me the extra energy and strength I needed to get over to the ladder on the side of the pier. I rushed to get out of the water and get some oxygen, so I broke the surface again, inhaling deeply. I climbed further up so that I was completely out of the water, but was still only about three steps out of the water. Out of no where, the creature leaped up at me out of the water, and grabbed my ankle with its razor sharp teeth.

Alright, I couldn't help it; I let out a scream of pain. Hey, you would, too if some strange creature bit you in your ankle with its sharp teeth.

It pulled me back down with it as gravity kicked in, and I was too busy crying out in pain to take a deep breath, causing me to inhale some water. The creature dragged me deeper and deeper into the water, my arms and hair floating out above my head. There was no way out of this, so I didn't struggle, and I closed my eyes and allowed the unstoppable force of fate take me.

What, you don't believe in fate? I sure as heck do. How else would I be dragged into the ocean by some strange creature when I could've been comfy, warm, and asleep in my bed right now?

Suddenly, I felt someone grab my wrists, and the shark thing let go. The salt water started burning my open wound, but I was thankful that someone was saving me. Oh, snap. The only people who live close to here was my own family! They could get killed!

I whipped my eyes open to see a strange, handsome face in front of my own, pulling me to the surface with him. But, there was something peculiar to him; he had a big, black fin instead of legs! He was a merman! His beautiful black tail matched his black hair, black eyes, and olive toned skin. For a mythical creature, he sure was hot!his torso and arm muscles were well defined, even in the dark ocean water.

Back to more serious matter, the merman and I broke the surface, where I gasped for oxygen. From up here I got an even better look at the boy's face, and almost gasped in shock at just how beautiful he truly was.

"You okay?" he asked in a voice of velvet. I couldn't answer; I was hyperventilating. He supported me with his strong, muscular arms, and said, "Hold on."

Suddenly, we started swimming back to shore at a speed much faster than average. I looked over his shoulder to see the fin of the shark creature sticking up out of the water, catching up.

"It's gaining on us," I told him worriedly. He nodded, and swam as fast as he could, but the shark thing was out swimming us.

We neared the shore, and I started questioning if this was a dream or not. Nah, I decided, it wasn't, because I was so close to death, it couldn't possibly have been any type of imagining.

"Crap." He said, and I automatically scoped out the scene again, noticing that I couldn't see the creature any more, and we still had about half a mile left to get to shore.

"Where did it go?" I asked hysterically, worried about where it went.

"Underwater. I can't see it from up here, so I'll have to go up against it. Do you think you can stay afloat if I bring you to a pier support?" I nodded my head vigorously, and he brought me over to a support. "Stay here." He warned, and I nodded again; he didn't have to tell me twice.

He swam further away, then dove underwater, his pure black tail gleaming in the moonlight as it splashed down on top of the water.

I held on for my life, not wanting to slip off. My jaw started chattering because of the cold. It may be hot in the day time, but at nighttime it sure is cold.

Almost five minutes passed, and I began to worry. What was going on down there? Is he okay? A feeling in my gut told me that he wasn't, so I got this huge urge to go see what's up. But my fear of drowning is telling my mind that I could drown, and the mermaid guy said to stay here, anyways. The part that told me that he was in danger got the best of me, so I made one of my world-famous snap decisions.

He came to my rescue, and he wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for me.

Adrenaline kicked in, and I turned myself around on the support carefully, so that I didn't just slide off into the deep water. Now my back was facing the wooden support beam, and I inhaled deeply. I then pushed all my fears aside, save for my fear of the mermaid guy's safety, and dove into the water.

It was too dark, so I couldn't see much, so I kicked a little further to see what I could find. All of a sudden, I saw both the mermaid guy and the shark creature fighting. It looked like the shark was winning. Knowing that I was running out of breath, I went to kick to go back above the water, but stopped in my tracks. The shark spun around and hit the merman with a strong force, and sent the merman pummeling to the bottom of the ocean, unconscious.

It then swam closer to him, and opened its giant mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

Oh, no.

I wasn't about to let the guy who saved my life die, especially when it was because of me. He was just too beautiful and magnificent, I couldn't allow him to die.

So, I did the first thing that popped into my mind.

I lifted my foot upwards towards my torso, and plunged my fingers into the wound that the shark had recently given me. I accidentally inhaled in pain, but the shark stopped when it got a whiff of my fresh blood.

It spun around to look at me, and spotted me easily. My eyes widened when I realized what I was about to do.

I was about to give up my life for a strange mythical creature.

The creature came after me at a tauntingly slow pace, but I kicked back as hard as I could, trying to get as far away as possible that I could. I had already inhaled water in pain, so now my body is instinctively inhaling more and more. It burned like fire going down my throat, and I thought, 'This is it.' There was no one to save me now; it was a matter of either drowning, or being eaten alive, whichever came first.

I gave one last hard kick backwards, where my head and back hit something hard, and I started sinking.

The last thing I remember was the shark still coming at me, as the darkness slowly crept in on me, and I gladly welcomed it.

**Soooooo...what'd you think? Too dramatic, too not dramatic, more details needed, more explainations, yadda yadda yadda?**

**Remember, REVIEW!**

**Kaythanks:)**

**\/**


	3. Hero

**Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh *jumps up and down squealing like a little girl* I think the adjective 'ecstatic' is an understatement of how I'm feeling thanks to all my lovely readers :):):)**

**I really can't believe it! I was laying down in bed on my iTouch, checking my story stats, and literally jumped up like they do in all those dramatic tween girl movies when I saw what grace you bunch bestowed upon me! It was more than what I had expected!**

**Alright, here goes nothing:**

**Story Alerts: Amy-Katherine914, Freedom Requires A Battle Cry, Giggelsrocksodoi, LemonStickInsect, and personfromjapan ! **

**Story Favs: Freedom Requires A Battle Cry, Giggelsrocksodoi, kttopwriter, personfromjapan, and sapphire17choco ! **

**Reviews: Freedom Requires A Battle Cry~ :):):):):):):):):)**

**Giggelsrocksodoi~ you made me crack up laughing! =D**

**~ :) and you shall keep getting mentioned if you keep reviewing ;]**

**personfromjapan~ i'm inspired to give you more :) let me know if you don't like something...:):)**

**LemonStickInsect~ why thank you very much =) **

**Maxride'n'percyjacksonfan4eva~ :):):) you hit the nail on the head (:(:(:**

**Keggy~ *squeals in happiness* thank you for the great review! ^_^**

**super ellie .'D~ thanks for the suggestions! And don't worry, I was already planning that stuff:) except she's already daughter of Jeb, but, she'll still be able to do stuff... ;) and that cookie was scrumptious :) thank you thank you thank you! You definitely bribed me ;)**

**Okay, so, calming down and deep breathing now. Thank you all so much! :) I'm serious when I tell you that my life has been so hectic that I was really thinking about running away, so you all made me cheer up so much that I plan on sticking around (at least til this story is finished...which won't be for a while ;) I know I may sound a bit dramatic, but I'm dead serious; you guys make me happy ^_^ Keep reviewing! And enjoy! (Sorry if you don't like this chapter; the ending is pretty important, so, see if you can tell the significance! Let me know what you think the significance was in your reviews! Except you, ...you basically know already :)**

My throat burned like fire; a pain in my chest almost intolerable ached. I felt two strong hands pumping at my chest. I was cold. So, so terribly cold. I felt my drenched body on the sand's rough, grainy surface, with my hair, clothes, and sand plastered against my skin. I felt all of this; yet I couldn't see anything.

So many questions scrolled through my brain:

Was I dead?

Did the merman survive?

Does anyone know I'm dead?

What are the kids gonna do if they never see me again?

How will they protect themselves? How are they going to adjust to school?

As these questions zipped through my mind, there was one ultimatum that stood out to me, that mattered more than anything else.

I can't be dead.

The kids need me so much. I can't just leave them; especially so suddenly without a goodbye.

Especially since this could've been prevented so easily.

Especially since I still feel like someone is sticking a lit match in my throat!

"Come on! Come on! Wake up!" I started hearing slowly, as the compressions on my chest didn't falter one single beat. "Max! Stay with me, baby!" A familiar voice shouted. I still couldn't see; the darkness was too strong.

I started counting the compressions.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.

I felt the person remove their hands from my chest. In the next second, I felt on hand tilt back my head, and the other pinched my nose shut. I then felt a pair of warm, soft lips cover my mouth, and felt warm air entering my lungs. One, exhale, two, exhale.

The person went back to the compressions, and repeated the rescue breathing a second time. The fire in my throat only got more intense.

"Max, please," the voice sounded broken. "I need you. Please come back."

Water rushed up out of my throat, leaving a trail of fire in its path, and I coughed violently as it poured out of my mouth. My eyes squeezed shut, and the water even went out of my nose at that force; leaving that burning sensation, also.

"Oh, thank God!" the owner of the voice said, hugging me tight against them as I continued coughing. I started getting myself under control when I felt the person's hand pushing my wet hair out of my face so gently. My eyes slowly opened, but everything around me was blurry. I moved my eyes all around to see, but it was incredibly difficult to focus on anything but the burning sensation in my throat, and the throbbing in my ankle.

My eyes finally focused on the person kneeling above me.

Kneeling right above me, face close to mine, hand stroking my cheek softly, was none other than Iggy.

Iggy, with his fair skin, pale blue eyes like an open sky, and hair a perfect strawberry blond. Iggy with a height of about 6'1", and a long, slender frame. Iggy with the gentlest touch. Iggy with his amazing cooking skills. Iggy with an awesome ability to build bombs (out of nearly anything).

Iggy with his extreme care, in plain sight.

"Maxie, sweetie, are you okay?" Iggy asked softly, tracing my hairline with his fingertips.

"Don't call me Maxie." I growled, sitting up.

"You are okay!" he exclaimed, pulling me into probably the tightest embrace I've ever been in.

"Yeah, Igs, I'm fine." I said, attempting to breathe.

"You're freezing!" he said, pulling off his shirt and putting it on me. His abs were pretty well defined; they didn't, like, stand out, or anything, but I could see them. Boy, could I see them. "Let's get you to the hospital. It looks like you were bit by a shark!" he pointed out, gesturing to my ankle.

"Wow, nothing gets past you now, huh?" I said sarcastically. I instantly regretted saying that, since he did just save my life.

"Well, excuse me, but what were you even doing in the ocean at night anyways? Especially when you can't swim! And how was I supposed to know there are sharks out there? Are you officially crazy?" he said, probably offended that I had been mean to him, yet grateful that I'm obviously okay with my sarcastic self.

"I wasn't supposed to be in the water, I just fell off the pier! Its a long story, so—wait! What are you doing out here anyways?" I countered. The moon light made his fair skin look even paler.

"Looking for you. You know, the whole 'stuffing my bed with stuff' doesn't work if someone needs to talk to you and removes your blanket." He said as if it were obvious.

"Well I wasn't expecting on you coming in my room late at night to talk!" I defended weakly. I felt so tired. So, very, very tired.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter right now. The ambulance is on its way. I had called 911 earlier," he informed me. I simply nodded. It would take at least five to ten minutes before the ambulance came once it was called. The town is pretty spread out. Each house is at least a few acres away, and we happen to live on the outskirts. "Hey," he said, much softer. "You'll be okay." He pulled me closer to him, and I winced because some sand got into my wound. He hugged me tight to him.

In the distance, I faintly heard the sirens of the ambulance, but I didn't stay conscious long enough to know what happened after that.

* * *

_I was sinking slowly, further and further into the deep blue sea. I didn't struggle; I was too weak to._

_Further into the distance, I saw a figure swimming after me. After a few moments, I squinted my eyes enough to make out the shape of none other than Iggy; my best friend. _

_I couldn't breathe, but I didn't care. I just wanted the ache in my chest to go away. I didn't want to feel any more pain. I didn't want to have to be the one that others depended on, for I was merely a weak human teenager. I wanted the urge to inhale to fade. I wanted the darkness to come and take me away. I wanted to die._

_What seemed like months later, Iggy caught up to me. "Come on Max! We have to go!" he yelled, but it was jumbled thanks to the fact that we're under water. He took my hand but was making little effort to pull me out of the water, as if there was something that he needed me to know first._

_Suddenly, I felt two strong hands wrap around my other wrist, yanking me away from Iggy. I whipped my head around to see the merman, complete with his black, purple tinted fin. The intensity of his pitch black eyes burned a fire within me, and I allowed him to pull me up to the surface with him, leaving Iggy alone, completely submerged. _

_And I never looked back. _

**The ending is a nightmare, just in case if its unclear to anyone ;) It has significance!**

**Let me know what you think! Is it good, bad, okay? Needs to be longer, more detail, more action, more faxion? Haha! Get it? Fax + actio—never mind. See? This is how I get when I'm happy! I can't say thank you enough!**

**Thanks!**

**And review! :):):):):):)(:(:(:(:(:(:**

**Kaythanks:)**

**\/**


	4. Escape

**So I'm happy yet pissed off at the same time...**

**I'm happy thanks to all of you great people out there reading my story and reviewing and everything, but pissed because of this guy. He's one of my brother's friends, and I actually had a slight crush on him, but he just acted like a jack ass to me for no apparent reason. Like, I just returned from my dad's house to find my brother, him, his brother, and my brother's ex all chilling in my living room, but I needed to tell my brother something really important before I forgot, but I couldn't say it in front of like the majority of the people there. So, I tried talking in Spanish to him, but then I guess he couldn't understand me above the noise of Call of Duty in the background, so he started basically telling me that I was saying stuff wrong, when I KNOW I wasn't, since, I clearly know what I was saying AND I am Puerto Rican AND I just got back from my dads house where I have to speak spanish AND I KNOW THAT I SAID SOMETHING THAT HE SAID I WAS SAYING SOMETHING ELSE! Ugh, I hate that. But then, it has to get worse by the guy that I kinda had (HAD) a crush on, who, by the way, is a freaking WHITE BOY, started telling me that he can speak spanish and started making fun of me and mimicking me in a high pitched voice as if I was a little girl, and claimed to know how to say things, and was trying to tell me what I said, when I know the the hell I said, and he just kept going, and now I'm just freaking shaking with anger. There was no freaking reason for him to treat me like that especially when I wasn't even talking to him or anything. Ugh, the freaking nerve of some people...**

**Any who, on to happier subjects...**

**Thank you all for all your great reviews, a story alert, and a new story favorite!**

**Story Fave: Music Freak 96**

**Story Alert: candyluvdoll**

**Reviews: Giggelsrocksodoi~ ha ha! You are, indeed, the first reviewer of my last chapter :) and don't worry, the faxness and fishyness (mermaids) is coming, be patient, young grass hopper :) **

**Keggy~ ha ha, sure, go ahead, I don't even know if I came up with that ;) oh, well. :) your very welcome :) I appreciate all reviews even if you just type a 'good' or a 'bad' :) I enjoy constructive criticism, so flames are welcome :) I also know that some authors can, like, care less about a reviewer, but I am definitely not like that ;) and ha ha you're both cool! I didn't even think my story was good enough to get reviews! So thank you so much! :) **

**Super ellie .'D~ yeah I love you! You type the longest reviews and always give me suggestions! So thank you very much:) Remember in the series how they all had bird genes in them but they didn't get powers until they were sparked? Well, I don't think I should give spoilers for my story, but it will all come in time, so, patience to you, too, Ellie-san ha ha ha! :) I love all of your ideas, but I either a) can't use some, like thing, for example, because I already have planned out how I'm going to do that, or b) I already have those ideas planned out :) ha ha :) Answers to your questions: yes, and yes, because I hate how in the series Max is the most important and the strongest out of all of them (besides actual strength, I think Fang is the physical strongest), yet she has, like, the least powers! I don't know about Fang's POV, I guess I'll have to get everyone else's opinions on that...I love your ramblings! And thanks for the cup cake...yum...home made, too :) thanks for loving my story, and I'm actually typing this now on Sunday, but I was at my dad's house this whole weekend, so I'm not sure if I can finish on time...**

**PFWF~ Ugh, it won't let me type your name! I literally typed it in, posted the chapter, saw that it didn't show, went back to edit the chapter, retyped it, replaced it, and it still didn't show, so I just kinda hoped that you knew who I was talking to :) thanks for the review again:), and, like I said in the last chapter, that nightmare held significance that you know of ;) ;) can we think geometry here? (; (; I think instead of having a square, we can have like an octagon! Ideas are popping in my head thanks to you :)**

**Freedom Requires A Battle Cry~ I think you should go with option number one! Have you ever seen the movie Ratatouille? If you have, he said that everything has its individual tasty flavors, but when you mix two you get so much more! So, yeah, option numero uno. And, I know what you mean about bacons...*sigh*...SHOUT OUT TO FRABC'S FRIEND BACON! PEACE, PORKY! (ha ha)**

**So, any ways, sorry that took up about a page and a half, and sorry for my ramblings about that jerk off (that literally just happened not even an hour ago). Any advice on what I should do about him? At all? Punch him? Okay!**

**No one even took a jab at the significance of the nightmare! Oh, well, I guess you'll just have to wait and read! **

**Read, enjoy, and then review! Or, you can review, read, and then enjoy, or enjoy, review, and then read, or and mix of the three as long as you do them! **

_**By the way, from the beginning to the end of this author's note is exactly 1000 words, which can be a chapter itself (with other authors, not me, of course)!**_

I gasped, and sat up in bed. A rather white and springy bed. Surrounded by white walls, with a needle attached in my arm! Oh no, a hospital! I was quickly reminded of the School. I remembered how everything was so white and sterile looking, and the dog cages and needles. Not to mention the tests they did on us, and the other experiments trapped in their own cages that I couldn't help or save. So much happened and yet I was too small to do anything about it. I just had to endure everything. Watch as other 'test subjects' were experimented on. Watch as they died in a feces infested cage right beside my own.

I shuttered, and tore the needle out of my arm. I noticed I was in a patient gown thingy, but I didn't care. I also noticed that I had bandages wrapped around my ankle, but paid no attention to that. I just had to get out of the stupid hospital, where people in white coats roamed the halls. Sure, they weren't the same as the white coats from the School, but hey, you can't trust anybody now a days.

I took a look around the room, looking for all possible exits. The door was closed, but I could easily break through the glass if I had to. There was a tiny window in the bathroom, and then two big windows at the side of the room opposite of the door.

Without thinking clearly, still pretty dizzy from everything that's happened, I hopped off the side of the bed, and landed on my feet. Pain stung in my ankle, badly. So bad that I lost balance, and tumbled into the machinery. I regained composure, and ignored the searing pain in my ankle. Pain is just a message, ignore it. I was taught that from Jeb, who also taught me and my 'shoal', as we call ourselves, how to fight. I, of course, had to teach myself more, because the fool was a bit impish. He taught me the majority of things, tho. Like, never be caught off guard, or you're dead. It comes in handy.

I ran to the door, and threw it open, then looked left and right, searching for an exit. I saw a little marker that said I was on the third floor, so I ran as fast as I could to the elevators, seeing a sign that pointed to them. People probably thought I was in the wrong hospital, and needed to go to the mental one. I wouldn't doubt if I did.

Thinking back to what happened, I couldn't tell if I finally cracked and went insane or what. I had almost drowned twice; the first time I was saved by a man with a huge, black, scaly fin instead of legs, the second was from my best friend. And it was all because of a creature that was like half shark, half human. It had an almost perfect shark-like structure, but had body parts that resembled that of a human's. The eyes were definitely human, it had fingers growing off of its fins, and it smiled in a sadistic way, revealing a mix of shark teeth and human incisors. There was no doubt in my mind that it was an experiment from the School. I wasn't sure about the merman, tho. Experiments from the School were either dysfunctional, or semi-successful, probably like the shark recombines. The merman was just so...beautiful, magnificent, noble. Plus, he helped save my life. As of now, his origin is debatable, but I'm more than willing to find out. I'll make sure of it.

I pressed the down arrow button in the hall where they were located. I looked above the elevator doors, and saw that the digital sign said it was on the fifth floor. I grew impatient, and started hyperventilating quickly. A nurse in a white coat turned the corner, and saw me. "Hey, excuse me, miss," she began, stalking towards me. I backed up into the wall, tense. She continued toward me, but I didn't stick around.

I decided to take the stairs instead, seeing the door nearby. I swung through the door, and slammed into the railing of the stairs since I couldn't stop. I quickly pulled through after losing my breath for that second, and started down the stairs as fast as I could manage. 'I have to get out, I have to get out,' I thought over and over to myself, with that being my only goal at the time. I took each step one by one, my bare feet scraping against the cool material harshly. I came to the second story landing, but did not stop as I rounded the corner of the railing, then another as I began down the next flight of stairs. I decided to waste no time in taking the last six steps, so I did what only one can do; I stretched out in front of me, gripped the railing with my right hand, pushed my weight against the wall on my left hand, and jumped. My landing was softened from that maneuvering technique, but I still had to ignore the incoming message of pain in my ankle.

I burst through the door, and slid to a stop in front of the food court. I did a quick 360, and spotted the lobby desk further away to my right, so the lobby doors were just around the corner. I took off as fast as I could (which was pretty fast compared to humans, thanks to genetic research and the School, pfft, whatever), and bounded around the corner. Only to run into my best friend. I was knocked down onto my butt, my left leg bent under me, my right leg crossed on top if it, and my hands behind me, breaking my fall before I could hit the floor hard.

"Max?" Iggy asked, confused, as I quickly got up, brushed my back side off, and tried to calm down my hyperventilation.

"Iggy...we...have to...get out of...here...now." I made out between breaths, taking his hand and pulling him towards the lobby doors. It wasn't that we were in danger, it was just my fear of white coats, needles, and sterile environments. Iggy let me pull him through the doors because of his knowledge of this. Good. Because, let me tell you, it's not easy dragging a 6 foot dude behind you, especially while you're dizzy. He just made life that much easier (which isn't much, but it'll do).

We finally got outside, and we high tailed it to the nearest woods, which were about a half mile away (that wouldn't be a problem at all except the fact that I'm dizzy and am sprinting on a damaged ankle).

We stopped and I sat down on a fallen tree, and put my head between my knees, breathing deeply as my hyperventilation began to fade now that we were out of the hospital. "Max," Iggy started, sitting beside me. "Are you okay?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, just a little woozy." I admitted. He placed a comforting hand on my back, and pulled out his cell phone to call Dr. M.

"Dr. M? Yeah, it's me, Iggy. Listen, Max just broke out of the hospital, and we're in the woods. She's feeling dizzy, so I think it's best if you can pick us up...Okay...Yeah, we'll be here...Okay, thanks. Bye."

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She said she just got off of work and is on her way." he informed me.

"Okay." I said. Suddenly, a thought came in my head. "Iggy, why did you leave me alone in that place?" I asked, he knows I hate hospitals.

"I didn't. I hate hospitals, too, so I had gone outside to get some fresh air, and went to go back inside to check up on you when you came crashing in to me." He explained.

"Okay." I said, pleased that he was there for me. "Where are the kids, then?"

"They are at home with Jeb." He saw the look on my face; I don't trust Jeb. "I don't trust Jeb, either, Max, but Dr. M had to work, and I had to stay with you. Plus, they can take care of themselves."

I nodded in agreement, but I saw a car coming up in the distance with my raptor vision, another courtesy of the School. It was Dr. M's car.

"Hey, Max?" I nodded my head to let him know I was listening. "I need to tell you something."

"Not right now, Igs." I said, and he looked disappointed for a second, but understood what I meant when he heard Dr. M's car coming thanks to his increased hearing senses. We walked over to the edge of the woods so that she could see where we were. Five seconds later, and she pulled over to the side so that we could get in. I hopped in the front, and Iggy went into the back.

"Max, honey, are you okay?" Dr. M asked, pulling me into a tight embrace.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told her. "Can we talk when we're home? I wanna make sure the kids are okay."

"Sure thing, sweetie." she said, and we took off back to the house. I was grateful that she didn't press for any details of what happened last night.

"Hey, Max?" Iggy asked not even five minutes into the car ride. "Do you hear that?"

As soon as that question came out of his mouth, my body went on hyper alert mode, and I quickly scanned outside for any kind of threat, and listened closely to my surroundings. Very faintly, in the distance, I could hear that of the being chopped profusely. "Yeah, I do." I stated. "But, what is that?"

"Helicopters." He informed me. "About three or four of them, headed our way." He said this in a grave voice, knowing that in a town that we live in, especially being ourselves, that was never good news. I nodded, and opened up my window to poke my head out to see any oncoming threats, or to see where the helicopters were. I looked backwards, and there, not too far away, were four big, black helicopters that looked like they were sent from the army or something.

"They're right behind us!" I shouted to Iggy and Dr. M. I turned back to see Dr. M gripping the steering wheel tightly. I guess she's never been in any kind of serious action before. "Dr. M, get in the middle of the back seat!" I ordered, taking charge in that leaderly way I have. I took the steering wheel, and leaned up in my seat so that I could hook my leg around to step on the gas. It didn't matter how fast we were going, the only thing in sight on this long stretch of a road, besides the helicopters, were the trees surrounding it. Dr. M quickly did as she was told, and buckled herself in the middle of the back seat, and I was proud of her bravery. "Iggy! Up here!" I shouted, slipping into the drivers seat, and Iggy easily slid into the passenger seat. I put my seatbelt on, as did Iggy, and I put the pedal to the medal.

Alright, driving is not exactly my skill, especially when I've never done it before. Especially since this little Audi we were driving in can go from zero to fifty in about five seconds, we were flooring it at about a max speed of one twenty. My knuckles gripped the wheel at ten and two, and I bored my eyes into the road, trying to lose the helicopters. It was a waste, they were gaining on us.

Suddenly, a bullet hit the rear tire, causing the car to swerve out of control, and we flipped over the side of the road at one hundred and twenty miles per hour.

**So...did you like? Dislike? Sorry about the lack of Faxness, but, as I said before, it'll all come in good time...especially if you review! **

**I wrote this whole chapter in about four hours (including some breaks from time to time...but, still! It's ten seventeen at night on a school night, and I'm suffering from lack of sleep...not really, but, whatever..) all because super ellie .'D gave me this deadline, and I didn't want to disappoint. Also, because I wanted some of her cookies :) ha ha. **

**Yeah, I'm pretty dedicated to my reviewers, but its the end of school, which means finals, exams, and projects galore, so, please give me reasonable deadlines if any :) **

**Tell me what I need to improve! Tell me what you liked! Give me ideas! I'm open to most!**

**Constructive criticism is key, and its all up to you guys!**

**Also, I need advice about what I should do to jerk boy! **

**Kaythanks:)**

**\/**


	5. Heroine

**Do you wanna know what's really ironic?**

**I don't care, I'm gonna tell you anyways. :) **

**Mmkay, so, I'm terribly obsessed with Maximum Ride. Like, seriously, I NEED to get a life. So, I was going through my computer desk not too long ago, and found my old Sims game! So, being the dork I am, I installed it, and created a new family! Anyone wanna take a guess of who it consisted of? If you guessed the twilight characters, you're RIGHT—**

—**LY WRONG! If you guessed the Maximum Ride characters, you're right! Whoop, whoop! You get a cookie! So, anyways, they live in this huge mansion now, and whatever, and I made Max and Fang have a kid;) I named it (I don't remember if it was a boy or a girl o.O oops ha ha:) Minimum! Just because Max is Maximum, and the baby is mini Max, and not as great as her (sorry but its true): , so, yeah. Off topic! What was ironic was that I bought a chemistry set thing a ma bobber, and had Fang make a potion...when he was done, he drank it, and TURNED INVISIBLE! HOW IRONIC IS THAT? I stared wide eyed at the game, and shut it off because I thought that was just too weird and creepy and coincidental and ironic, so, yup yup yup :) That was pretty cool tho ;]**

**Okay, so, I was really happy that I got some new reviewers and favoriters and alerters! Haha those aren't even words, but I don't care! I was so happy that I decided to write this whole chapter like, right now. :) **

**Story Alerts****:**

**The-Dark-Love-Writer**

**Puppybluie**

**Baby-Rosalita**

**Alie XD**

**Story Faves: **

Baby-Rosalita

just me 33333

Puppybluie

The-Dark-Love-Writer

**Reviews:**

**Giggelsrocksodoi~ Ha ha, no, you have not :) its all good tho ^_^ I understand your laziness ;) was this update soon enough for you? And don't worry, Iggy will tell her in time :)**

**Freedom Requires A Battle Cry~ I'm glad he liked his shout out! :) Ha ha ha ha! OMG! You didn't give me any advice about jerk boy, but you sure as hell made me laugh and feel so much better! So thank you so much! Especially for the review! You are hilarious! And I'm not blonde, but my mom is, and everyone seems to agree that I should be a blonde, too...? I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment or an insult...? LOL! I love Mountain Dew!**

**Just me 33333~ Thank you so so so much! :):):) I really appreciate your review! It helped me write this all out in one night when I'm supposed to be doing my art project o.O**

**Super ellie .'D~ Ha ha! Your new deadline was beat in record time! :):) what's the new one? Thanks for liking my chapter :):) You keep giving me suggestions that are really close to the ideas that I already have planned out! Great minds think alike then, I suppose? Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions! I put the last part in just as an experiment for the story, we'll see if others want that or not... :) As for your questions, answering them would only spoil the story for you, so all I can say right now is wait and find out ;) Yay! A brownie and a cookie for me! Yum! I should really go running now, tho! Ha ha :) Thanks so much for the advice on jerk boy :) it really means a lot to me :) And actually, I love reading your long reviews! You're always so full of energy and ideas and stuff, and I just plain love long reviews ! :) And I will definitely continue writing this, even if its just for you:) But I really do appreciate the reviews, you know? It lets me know that writing this story isn't just a waste of time, and I want to hear what you guys love/hate. ;)**

**Beth~ Thank you for the review! I really really appreciate ALL reviews, no matter what. Especially when they are encouraging, like yours :)**

**The-Dark-Love-Writer~ Thank you *curtsies* Thank you. Your review also helped me update tonight so you rock! :) :) :) (: (: (:**

**There's nothing like some good ol' faithful readers to make a girl happy :) You all are so wonderful :) But, can someone explain to me what the difference between hits and visitors are? **

**ENJOY!**

Have you ever flipped over the side of the road on a mountain in your car going at one hundred and twenty miles per hour because some evil people in helicopters are shooting at you because they want to capture you and do experiments on you where they test your surviving abilities such as how long you can last with out food or water or how long you can full out sprint or how long you can fight off evil creations that were designed to kill you?

You haven't? Oh, I guess it sucks for you then. Not really, it sucks for me.

After the car had swerved out of control, it flipped over the side of the road at a deadly 120 mph. I hadn't realized that we had been driving up the mountain, so the car tumbled through the woods, smashing into the trees it came into contact with. Some trees bent and rocked with the impact, withstanding the force of the car, while others simply got knocked down with the car. As this was happening, the windows started cracking, but not much; the body of the car took the most damage. As for me, I was being whipped around in my seat, thankfully staying in mostly one spot thanks to my seatbelt. I'll probably have whiplash by the end of this, if I'm alive still.

I was concentrating on surviving. Now that we were aware that the School is after us again, I couldn't let my family go through that again without any help from me. They needed me, and I knew that. I did as you're supposed to do in situations like that: I crossed my arms over my chest. Everything was spinning too fast; I couldn't check if Iggy or Dr. M were alright. My head banged against the ceiling of the car and the steering wheel a few times, and the seatbelt cut against my skin. But I'd rather have a few cuts than a few broken bones...or death, wouldn't you?

What seemed like an hour really only lasted about a minute. The car eventually rolled off the cliff and dropped about ten yards into the unforgiving ocean. The car plunged into the water head first, making me smash my head into the steering wheel. 'HHOOOOOOOOOOONNNKK!' the horn honked as my head lay smashed against it. My senses were thrown off for about ten seconds as my head lay on it.

I finally came back to my senses when I felt water spilling in onto my lags through the vents. I lifted my head up to see blood dripping into my face and eyes and spilling onto the steering wheel. That probably happened when my head smashed into it. I shook my head, as if to clear it a little more, and looked over to Iggy. Blood was also seeping out of a large cut on his forehead, probably from smacking it into the dashboard. He was unconscious. I looked back to Dr. M, and saw that she, too, was unconscious. But didn't look to be hurt too badly; she can survive as long as we get out of this car.

I remembered what Jeb had taught me if I ever was in this situation.

I quickly unbuttoned my seatbelt as water continued gushing into the car. I also took of Iggy's, and dragged him into the back of the car with Dr. M. I strapped him in so that he would stay up there in the back to stay in the air pocket. I stayed there with them. Keeping my head and theirs up as the water started reaching my neck. There was almost no air pocket left, and I had to struggle to keep their mouths out of the water.

As the air pocket ran out, I knew that it was time to take action, since the pressure on the inside of the car was now equal to that of the pressure outside of it. I inhaled deeply, let go of the others, and turned so that my back was resting on the back of the passenger seat, my legs up in the water facing the rear window. With all the strength that I could muster, I started kicking at the window. After a few seconds, the window finally came off, and I unbuckled Iggy and Dr. M. I was quickly running out of oxygen, and my throat ached. The car continued sinking, as I hurriedly and easily pulled Dr. M out of the car. I ad no more oxygen, and my body was urging me to inhale, but I knew better. I stayed at it, and desperately pulled at Iggy. He was too heavy and big for me. I saw that his sleeve was caught on one of the car's hinges, and I quickly removed it. I slipped him out of the car, and tried as best as I could to pull him out of the water.

We had sunk really far down in all that time, so my lack of oxygen and the weight of Iggy and Dr. M on me made it nearly impossible for me to save us, but I knew I had to. I battled against the laws of gravity, and I pushed all of my strength, but it didn't seem like enough; we were still far from the surface and shore, and I couldn't swim. I begged with all my being for some kind of miracle to happen to save my family. Not me, my family.

Suddenly, I could breathe again, but I was still underwater. I inhaled deeply, begging for oxygen into my lungs. A strange light glowed around my legs, and I looked down, distracted for a brief moment. I saw what once were my legs, now was a huge fin. A fin so scaly and such a wonderful shade of blue that shined green and yellow, that was absolutely beautiful. My hospital gown was still covering me.

I didn't dare continue staring at myself, or even ask questions. I just thanked God, or whatever out there that gave me a great advantage to save my family's lives.

I used all the strength in my new body and fin to propel me forward with Iggy and Dr. M still in my arms. Their weights almost seemed like nothing now.

I closed the distance between us and the shore, and hauled their bodies onto the sand. I decided that Dr. M needed my help the most right then, so I tilted her head back and pinched her nose with my right hand, lifted and opened her jaw with my left, then covered her mouth with my own. I then exhaled, breathed in through my nose, and exhaled into her again. I repeated this for a few more seconds until she started coughing up water and breathing on her own.

"Max?" She asked me in a weak voice, but I shushed her.

"Shh, shh, shh. It's okay, mom, just take a nap." I told her. She nodded, trusting me, and drifted right in to slumber.

I looked over to Iggy, and felt for his pulse. I sighed loudly in relief when I felt one, but I also saw that he, too, wasn't breathing, and needed my help. I also saw that his lips and face were turning blue, and he almost looked like he wouldn't make it. But, he has to make it. I can't live without him. I can't live without any of my family.

I tilted his head back and pinched his nose with my left hand, then lifted and opened his jaw with my right hand. I covered his sweet, cold lips with my own, and exhaled deeply into his mouth. I saw his chest lift with the sudden entrance of oxygen. I inhaled through my nose, and exhaled again. I repeated this a few times, watching his chest rise and fall, but he didn't start breathing on his own. No water came rushing out of his mouth like it should have.

I grew panicked. I couldn't lose him, I just couldn't. I moved my right hand to the side of his throat to check for his pulse again, never stopping the rescue breathing. A single tear rolled out of my eye, as I felt no pulse anymore. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing for this to be a bad dream, but when I opened them again, Iggy's still, blue form still lay beneath me.

I felt my heart brake, and I took my mouth off of his, squeezing my eyes shut. I hissed in a breath of air as I began sobbing. He was dead, and it was all my fault. Everything bad that's ever happened had happened because of me. And Iggy had to suffer from it. It shouldn't be him that was dead, it should've been me! I would gladly switch places with him if it meant his safety. Everyone would be better off it it were me that was dead.

'No', I thought, as I forcefully opened my eyes and willed myself to stop crying and get a grip of myself. He wasn't dead. I couldn't believe that. I wouldn't believe it.

I pulled myself up as much as I could without falling on my fin. I pressed my left wrist down against the center of his chest, and placed my right hand on top of my left. I interlocked my fingers together, and pushed down, hard. I counted out loud.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, come on Iggy! Eight, nine, ten, eleven, get up! Get up! Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, I need you! Wake up! Don't you dare die on me, Igs! Twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty!" I paused the compressions for a moment so that I could give him two rescue breaths, then continued.

I grew impatient, and throughout this short amount of time that I was giving him compressions, I thought about how difficult it would be to live without him. I tried to imagine what it would be like to go on without Iggy. He did not deserve to die, and he wasn't going to on my watch!

Forget compressions, I took my fists and pounded his chest with so much force, screaming at him through blurry, teary eyes. "Iggy! Iggy, You listen to me!" I yelled at him through my sobs. "You do not leave me until I say you can, you hear me? I love you!" I shouted, and suddenly, his chest heaved, and water sprayed out of his mouth as he coughed violently. More tears fell as I looked up to the sky. There must be someone up there who cares at least that much for us.

"Oh, Iggy!" I sobbed, wrapping my arms around his neck tightly.

"Max?" He asked weakly, confusedly. He was most likely confused because he had passed out while the car was crashing, so he had no idea what happened, especially since I was crying into his shoulder; and he knows I never cry. "What happened?" he asked.

I shook my head into his shoulder, ignoring his question. "Just get your rest," I said quietly, realizing that I had told him that I loved him.

* * *

Fang POV

I strayed on the surface of the ocean, staring at the sight no too far ahead of me.

The transformation was complete with her. And, God, was she beautiful.

The only problem I saw at that moment, tho, was her gorgeous body being held to Iggy. And I couldn't stand to hear hear the words she just previously said to him.

_'I love you.'_

**Hmm...so what do you all say about Fang POV's? Do you want them? Do you think they'll ruin the story? I put this very very short little one in there for super ellie, since she's been asking me, and I wanted to test it and see what the rest of you would think. LET ME KNOW! **

**Tell me what you think of what Max said to Iggy? Were you all a little upset like I was that he was dead for about a minute or two? I sure as heck was! Ideas? Suggestions? Comments? Flames? ALL ARE WELCOME :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)**

**I hope you enjoyed this! And review!**

**Kaythanks:)**

**\/**


	6. New

**You want to know what else is ironic? On the Sims game, I hired a maid, and guess what her name was? Her name was Brigit, and she had red hair. Coinky dink? I think not.**

**Anyways, thank you thank you thank you all for all the reviews I got! I was sooo incredibly happy! I was also happy for the new alerts and favs! **

**Favs:**

**Turq8**

**maxridelover123**

**InvisibleColors**

**chocolateorange123**

**Alerts: **

meLthevamp

InvisibleColors

love2read0309

**Reviews:**

**Puppybluie~ Trust me, there will be plenty of Fax! The Miggy is just to make the story more dramatic, so don't worry about that. This is 100% Fax story! There is just going to be some mishaps like that, okay? And —gasps— Justin Bieber does NOT suck! :) Thanks for the review! :):):) oh, and I probably WILL add your oc, but I doubt she'll be a mermaid, because I have to try to make her fit in to the story, you know? So we'll see how that goes :) I'm still thinking. **

**Inkmoon~ Thank you, thank you :):):):)**

**Me (you? Lol)~ Yeah, that's what the Miggy is for. Just to make things a little more dramatic between Max and Fang...I think I might make it a little angsty...but I'm not sure how I'm going to do that ! :) lol they do love each other, and it is a little bit the make out kinda love, but, trust me, this is not a miggy story, again, its just to add effect! Ha ha thanks for your review!**

**Freedom Requires A Battle Cry~ They are supposed to think of each other as brother and sister, but, no, they aren't related. They met in the orphanage, remember? Poor Iggy! I would never kill him off! He's probably my third favorite character in Max Ride! Lol! You are as funny as the sight of my mother when she first wakes up in the morning!**

**Just me 33333~ Thank you so much! Especially for actually supporting my own decisions! I'm kind of jumbled up because so much people are leaning one way with the Fang POV. I had put up a poll on it, I don't know if you voted or not, but I'm probably going to make his POV vague if at all. :) thanks :)**

**U will never know. Well maybe~ It's both, but JUST FOR DRAMA! Its going to be 100% Fax, but the Miggy is just to add jealousy in there...its gonna be a love web! There's going to be so much love interests its going to be difficult to keep up! :):)**

**candyluvdoll~ Thank you very much :) and I'm thinking about it... :) Plus, thanks that was a really good idea for its own story, but I meant to create a summary for this story, because I don't like my own :P lol ; Maximum Ride: The Mermaid Experiment: _(summary goes here)_?**

**Alie XD~ Thank you so so so much ! :) :) (: (:**

**The-Dark-Love-Writer~ Thank you :) and I might just keep doing the Fang POV because I love his mushy feelings for Max :):):)**

**Beth~ Thank you so much! You have no idea how grateful I am for your review! It makes me really happy :):):)**

**Giggelsrocksodoi~ Thank you for logging in just for me! :) Ha ha sorry, nope, maybe for someone else...(not saying who ;) Thanks again! :) And sorry to disappoint you when I posted the AN! I really needed to post it tho to clear up some things...and I'm updating because I'm kinda scared that you'll actually end up poking me with a stick! Lol! :):):):):):):):)**

**wings~ Lol thank you :) And like I said...its all for the dramatic effect ;)**

**MaxWriter452~ thanks :) and every other reviewer asked for Fang POV, so I'm kind of juggling with what I should do, you know? How do you think it'll ruin the story tho? **

**InvisibleColors~ Thanks for the review :) And I like that idea, so I might just do that...**

I lay there, clutching a sleeping Iggy to me. My sobs calmed down after a while, and I wiped my eyes, letting go of him. I rolled over onto my back, and sat up on my fin. I stared at it for a second or two, mesmerized. Not to sound full of myself, but it was just absolutely amazing. Then it struck me; what would other people think of me? Not that I cared about their opinion; I only cared about my family's opinions. They'd all think I was a freak. After all, that's what I was; a fish freak.

Sure, I was thankful it happened so that I could save my family's lives, and sure, I thought the merman that I had seen yesterday was the most beautiful being I have ever seen in my entire life, but that was just my opinion. What would my family think? Would they judge me? Hate me? Abandon me? Was I going to stay a mermaid forever? Will I ever be able to be human again? So many thoughts crowded my brain at once, and I was left with a soaring headache, one that I chose to ignore at that moment.

The waves of the ocean kept on rolling in, dampening my scaly fin. I sighed, looking out into the water, and going frustrated when I saw something on the surface dive into the water. It happened so fast I almost didn't catch it. But, I saw it, and I was going to find out what it was. I made another of my world famous snap decisions, and dove into the water. I figured that Dr. M and Iggy would wake up in a few minutes, so they'd be fine. After all, the only way that part of the shore was reachable was by boat (or, by your car rolling off the cliff at 120mph, and you survive it, but either way, both were most unlikely to happen within a few minutes). And I didn't want them to see me when they woke up.

The surface of the water broke against my body as I penetrated it. I slammed down my fin to get under the water faster, and I saw my hair spew out around my face in the clear blue water. Breathing in and out with no problem, I dove further and further into the sea. I was focused on finding out what was straying on the surface, obviously watching us.

My hospital gown soon became bothersome as it floated outwards around me while I floated in the water. I could see the bottom of the ocean now, but I couldn't see anything else in the water besides some seaweed, crabs, and other normal things like small schools of fish. The light from the surface of the water reflected onto the white ocean floor, brightening up everything, making everything look so beautiful. I turned my head side to side, searching for anything unusual.

"Hello?" I asked out loud, and was surprised when it came out perfectly, and the sound was melodious here in the ocean. I blinked in surprise, baffled at the beautiful sounding melody my voice now created, which only Made life so much happier down here. I rolled around in the water, dancing, and flipping, and flaring my hair out in pure bliss, giggling to myself. Even my giggles sounded like a song.

I stopped abruptly as I saw what had caught my attention on the surface of the ocean, and what I had followed into the water looking for. Only a mere twenty feet away was my rescuer, the one who I owed my life to and thought was dead. Right before my eyes was the beautiful, mysterious merman.

His eyes bore right into mine as we both lingered in the water, rocking with the waves. "Hello," I said warily, trying to get a response. His face remained void of all emotion, and I grew a tad impatient. I wanted to know what he thought of me, especially when he just saw me dancing around underwater like the fish freak I am. Psh; I'd like to call myself Aquarian American, thank you very much. "My name's Max. Maximum Ride. What's yours?"

He remained silent, observing me intently for a moment. Sure, I owed him my life, but who did he think he was? Treating me like I was a freak, even though he was technically one himself. "Fang." I was taken aback by his voice, too. His voice rang out like the harmony to my melody, smooth like velvet. I was also amazed by his lack of words. Maybe he was just a little worried since I was human the last time he saw me. I put my right hand out in front of me, extending a little towards him as a signal of peace.

"Thank you for saving my life." I said sincerely, edging a little bit towards him, my tail stretching out behind me, but he didn't move.

"Sure." He said, and I couldn't stop the twinge of my eye as I grew even more irritated. His voice rang through my ears, and I couldn't get enough of it. Especially when he only said one word answers. But it bothered me even more that it was almost as if him saving my life was nothing. Was it really nothing to him? Did I matter at all to him? Did I almost sacrifice my life for his when he didn't even care?

I bit my bottom lip, looking away, nodding my head. I turned around and went to swim away, for I felt no reason to stay with him. I knew I needed answers, but felt as if I didn't care. I knew that I cared about him, even if I only knew him for about two minutes. I felt as if I knew him my entire life, and felt as if he was the most important person in the world to me, yet I just learned his name. But, obviously, it was no big deal to him that he saved my life. As if it didn't matter to him who I was; I was just a damsel in distress, and he would've saved anybody else had they been in the same position I was.

"Wait," he said, grabbing my wrist, and it was as if every nerve cell in my wrist went haywire, completely aware of his presence, of his touch. I absolutely adored this feeling, so I closed my eyes and inhaled as a reaction to it. I slowly turned my head back around to face him, looking at him directly in his pitch black eyes. "Where are you going?" He asked, and I was grateful that he was using more than one word in a sentence.

"I have to get home." I told him curtly.

"Are you sure you can?" he asked.

"I'll do whatever it takes. My family and I are in danger." I informed him.

"Of what?" He asked.

"This place we were in as kids called the School. They did genetic engineering on us and others, and performed intense experiments on us all. We escaped thanks to one of the scientists, but now they're back, it seems." I summed it up to him.

"Yeah, I know." He said. I looked at him quizzically, did he mean he was an experiment, too? He must've read my facial expression well, because he answered my unspoken question, "I was experimented on there, too, with you. That's why we are what we are now." He explained, and I was taken aback, and not just because he used sixteen words at once.

He said that he was experimented on with me? Can he mean—? No, it couldn't be. He couldn't have been the dark little boy that shared the dog crate next to mine back when we were just toddlers, could he?

* * *

_Flashback_

"_No, don't harm subject 02. It is of valuable use," I heard one of the big, mean, evil white coats say. I looked up from my fetal position against the wall of the dog crate I was in to see them throw another dog crate next to mine carelessly, and I flinched from the impact. The white coats left the poor lit room, shutting the doors behind them, and I peered into the cage next to mine. There lay a cute little boy, probably around my age. He had long, messy, jet black hair, olive toned skin, and pitch black eyes, face devoid of emotion._

"_Hi," I whispered over to him, but he just backed up against the side of the crate furthest from me. "I'm not going to hurt you," I told him. "They hurt me, too. I'm Subject 01, but I don't know my real name...do you know yours?" He shook his head 'no', and said nothing further. I knelt up to the side of the cage closest to his, and grabbed a hold of the bars. "I get kinda lonely in here. Don't you?" I asked him. He nodded his head 'yes'. "Do you want to be my friend?" I asked him with a little confidence, hoping he'd say yes. He didn't say it, but he nodded it, and I smiled a toothy grin(or toothless grin, since I was only about a year and a half old at that point), and stuck my little arms through the bars, waving him over towards me._

_He obeyed hesitantly, and knelt up against the bars across from me, so he was only five inches away from me. "Take my hand," I commanded him lightly, reaching out my arm as far as I could without getting it stuck between the cold, iron bars. He reached out his hand and took mine, and I inter locked our tiny fingers. "From now on we'll be best friends, no matter what."_

**I hoped you enjoyed that! I was kinda in a rush to write this and update for all you guys out there, since I wasn't even going to until you guys voted on my polls, but then I got a threat to be poked with a pointy stick, so I wrote this before I was tortured ;) Please review for me!**

**Kaythanks:)**


	7. Remembrance

**Alright, sorry its been, like, a while since I've updated, but I have many excuses, those being the end of school, finals, I celebrated my sixteenth birthday on the twenty fourth, had a party the twenty sixth, went to the beach, and pure laziness. But I forced myself to stay up until two in the morning so that I had something to give you before I left for Ecuador. Yeah, sorry, but I'm packing and leaving today, and won't be back until the fourteenth at least, maybe longer, so I won't be able to update. Sorry. Also, Thank you all so much for the reviews, but I was asked by more than one person to stop putting so much author's notes, so I will stop. Just ask me if you specifically want to be mentioned ;) Oh, by the way, visit my poll so that I know what you all want!**

Gasping, I covered my mouth while staring wide eyed at the boy I once called my best friend. Years of separation that went by had dramatically changed. His jet-black hair grew out shaggily, sweeping just above his pitch black eyes and curling at the ends, which ended below his ears. His once round, childish face now stood out more defined. His olive toned skin now seemed as if it glowed more, most likely from being out of the School. His muscle features were also now more defined; not in a body builder way but in a teenager-who-fights-experiments-in-order-to-defend-his-own-life way. And let's not forget the fact that he has a _fin_ and _gills_ now, huh? All in all, to put it one way, he was _fine_.

"Subject 02?" I asked to make sure that I wasn't just jumping to conclusions, edging more towards him.

"Subject 01." He stated back, remembering me, too. My heart swelled with joy seeing him again, and I threw my arms around his neck, resting my chin on his shoulder, squeezing him tight to me. He became like a statue, and I kind of just had to make the best of it. He never really was the touchy-feely type. But I was surprised to feel his arms wrap around me after a few moments. I could feel his hands resting on my sides; his arms snaked around my back. My hospital gown was the only thing separating my body from his warmth, but I couldn't just take it off; I had nothing else on underneath it. I squeezed my eyes shut, savoring the moment.

"I'm so sorry." I said next to his ear. Then I pulled away so that I could look into his eyes, still in his tight embrace. "But right now the rest of my family is in danger, and I have to help them, so that means that I have to go," I told him, and pulled away completely. I turned to leave, but he grabbed my wrist.

"You left me once. Don't leave me again." He said, and it was like a stab through my heart. A pang of guilt washed over me, and I suddenly felt exhausted. "Look, I'm not leaving you. I'm coming with." When he said this his eyes pierced into mine with such desire that I couldn't refuse.

"It's going to be dangerous." I warned so that maybe he'd change his mind. The last thing I wanted now was to drag him into this mess and have him get hurt, or captured. He didn't reply, though. He just stared me down, and that was all I needed to know that he was sure about it. I smiled a small, sad smile, and took off in the direction that I left Iggy and Dr. Martinez, Fang on my trail.

Once we reached the shore, I pulled myself over the sand to get to Iggy, but let me tell you that its incredibly difficult to drag a huge fin across sand, especially when the tide lowered so that he seemed to be further away. Fang followed, but did it in a more graceful fashion, as if he did it all the time. The sun beat down blazing hot on top of us, and I wiped a bead of sweat off of my forehead, finally settling down next to Iggy.

"How are they?" Fang asked.

"Iggy, well, he…" I trailed off for a second, not wanting to relive that memory that had happened only a few minutes ago. "They'll be fine." I told him, and he nodded understandingly. I looked down at Iggy's face, and was happy to find that it was regaining most of its color. Which, is kind of ironic because he's as pale as one can get, but at least the blue in his lips were returning to the subtle shade of pink he naturally owns.

About five minutes passed by, and I felt myself becoming dryer by the minute. I closed my eyes and laid back, savoring the moment of peace, and hoping that the rest of my family was okay. I also thought about why the School would be back suddenly after so many years. What did they want? What were they up to?

I figured that they were after me for obvious reasons, I mean come on I'm a mermaid for crying out loud! So does that mean that they wanted just me to experiment on? So far I was the only one with a fin and gills, besides Fang, I mean.

Aw, crud. I mentally face palmed myself. Of course they're going to be after Fang, too! I just made it easier for them by dragging him with me! You know what they say, 'kill two birds with one stone'. I'm such an idiot!

"Max." Fang's voice called me out of my inner self-discipline. "We should wake them up now and get moving." I looked down and was astonished when I saw my legs again. I tried to not show my consternation as I nodded my head and looked over to Fang. I lost that internal battle when I saw Fang's legs, dressed in black bathing suit shorts. I shook my head, trying to take my focus off of that, and shook iffy awake.

"Iggy, come on get up. We have to go." He immediately woke up, something that we trained ourselves to do. Except Nudge, but she's a whole other story. I woke up Dr. M, too. "Iggy, mom, this is Fang, Fang this is Iggy and my mom. There's no time to explain, we just have to go!" I rushed.

"Uh, Max, just one problem…" my mom pointed out, "how do we get out of here?"

I looked around at the big cliff, trying to find a way to get up. It seemed to be only a few yards high, so maybe it was climbable. I walked over to the base of the cliff, searching for any type of footing. There, at the middle of the cliff, was where I saw the most footing; and it wasn't much.

I reached up, grabbing hold of sturdy rocks, and jumped up so that I could put my feet on it faster. Seeing that I had a good hold, I continued, putting most of my weight on my feet while I reached up with my hands. I was thankful that I had underwear on under my hospital gown. That would've been embarrassing.

I was a little more than halfway up the cliff, which was about ten yards up, when I couldn't find any more footing. I groaned in complaint, since my ankle felt like it was on fire. I reached up anyways—I was not giving up—and grabbed hold of a sturdy-looking rock. I shifted my weight onto it so that I could reach up with my other hand, when it crumbled. I lost my balance for just a moment, and started to fall.

**Sorry it was short, but I wanted to give you all at least one chapter before I left, especially since I haven't updated in a while…but be sure to review, because they make me happy!**

**Kaythanks**


	8. Reception

**Okay! So, I'm back in America, safe and sound. Ecuador was beautiful, besides the creepers who pestered you into buying crap, but, I'm thankful for the wonderful trip, and I thank God that I made it safe. I also thank all of you good people out there who give me much needed support. *sobs* It's really good to know that you guys like my story and actually review! **

**Also, to Ari, I love the fact that that is your actual nickname. And, yes, it is fate. So is your name ;) And you are absolutely correct! I got the idea of mermaids after watching The Little Mermaid! So, yeah, you're amazingly smart how you put two and two together, but I honestly didn't mean for it to have actual ideas from The Little Mermaid, but, *shrugs* oh well, you like the story (thank you ;), and you think that its an original idea for Max Ride fanfics, so thank you again! :):):)**

**But, anyway, sorry that I can't mention every reviewer because I was asked to keep the ANs to a minimal and the stroy to a maximal (?) and I always try to please my readers, but, Giggelsrocksodoi, you and your sister are hilarious, and Puppybluie, I am unfortunately unable to make your OC a mermaid, too, because the reason that Max and the gang are merpeeps is because they were experimented on in the school. So, sorry, but she is in here! Again, many many thanks to all the reviewers! (And readers, of course). And I would've had this updated sooner if my stupid friggen brother hadn't broke my laptop! I hate siblings -_- i love you guys ^_^ Since you've waited so long, and gave me so many reviews, here's an extra long chapter!**

I felt my arms and legs scrape against the rocky wall of the cliff as I fell a few feet, grabbing hold of another footing. I sucked in a number of profanities, holding back a yell as my ankle took a big blow trying to get a hold of the wall again.

"MAX! Oh my god, sweetie, are you okay?" I heard my mom yell, and I saw Fang come closer to the base of the cliff just incase I really fell again.

"Yeah," I called, trying to keep a strong voice for them. "I'm fine."

"Please be careful, honey!" She warned, and then started explaining what had happened to Iggy, who was unaware of what was going on around him.

I continued my climb, being even more careful this time, but failing to keep my weight off of my ankle.

I finally made it to the top, and I lay on my stomach, looking out over the edge to come up with a way of getting the rest of them up. Fang could more than likely climb up, just as I did, Iggy probably, too. He's blind, so his senses are heightened, including touch, so he's more capable of feeling for footing than the rest of us. But my mom would not be able to climb up. And Fang needed to stay with them incase if they need a quick get away through the ocean.

"Stay there, I'll be right back!" I yelled, hearing the highway close by, and I saw Fang nod. I rose to my feet, and ran swiftly through the trees of the woods. We were able to run faster than any human with help from the School. I reached the edge of the woods, and saw cars speeding down the road. I waved my hand around to try to get someone's help, and after a few seconds, a black pick up truck pulled over to the shoulder, and I ran over to it.

The windows were tinted, and there was a few things in the bed, so a long, thin rope tied around the stuff so they didn't fall out. The driver opened the window and said, "Hey, are you okay? Do you need help or something? Because you look really beat up, especially in that hospital gown."

I saw that the driver was a girl around my age, maybe seventeen, give or take. She had long brown hair that fell straight down to her shoulder blades, and glinted red when the sun hit it. It went perfectly with her tanned skin, and pure blue eyes. All in all, she was pretty.

"Um, yeah, my family is stuck."

"Okay," she said, shutting off the engine as she got out and came around the side of the car. "What do they need help with? By the way, my name is Jade!" She said, and held out her hand. I could already tell she was the bubbly type. I just hope she doesn't talk as much as Nudge.

"They're stuck at the bottom of a cliff, and can't climb up."

"Oh, okay!" She said, and started untying the rope from around the suitcases in the bed of her truck. When she was finished, she handed me the rope, and put the suitcases inside the car, locked the doors, and said, "Lead the way," within a few seconds. How much coffee did she drink today?

I started off through the woods again, and she trailed behind me, having only minimal trouble getting over logs and sticks, and going through bushes. The fact that she was hyper helped a lot.

As we walked, I examined the rope, and figured that it'll be long enough to reach down to the bottom. "By the way, you never told me your name!" She said excitedly.

"My name is, um," should I tell her my real name? Eh, why not? She can't do much with my nickname, and she seemed like a nice enough girl. Plus, She's helping us, without a second thought, so I at least owed her my name. "Max," I finished.

"Oh." She said, then seemed to pause for a second. "That's a cute name! I used to have a dog named Max when I was a kid!"

I gritted my teeth together, as my hand tightened around the rope to prevent me from knocking the girl out. My silence must have told her everything.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that, I was just saying the truth!" I heard a slapping noise, and I whirled around in a fighting stance. What can I say? Instinct?

After I did that I realized it was her face-palming herself. "I'm truly sorry, I'm an idiot…what I mean is: Max is a cute name. There. Don't let me talk anymore." She said, trying to choose the right words, oblivious to the fact that I was ready to attack, so I just turned around, and kept walking.

We arrived to the edge of the cliff not even a minute later, and she looked out over the edge. "Wow," she said, and the ground beneath her foot crumbled.

"Watch out!" I yelled, and grabbed the back of her red shirt before she could fall. She looked over to me with a thankful, yet sheepish, grin.

I looked out over the edge to see them still there, alive and well—for the most part.

"Hang on, guys!" I called to them, tying the rope to a tree that stood close to the edge. I threw it down to them, and said, "Mom, you first." I just hoped she was able to climb.

She grabbed hold of the rope, and jumped, landing her feet on the wall of the cliff. She then started to climb, as if she was walking on the wall. She got a little farther up, but her strength gave way, and she slid down the rope back to the base of the cliff. "Sorry, Max, but I never was able to climb rope."

"It's okay. Iggy next, then." I said. Iggy climbed up the rope without breaking a sweat. I called for Fang to climb up next, and that he did, fastest of all of us. "Just hold on to the rope tight, mom!" She grabbed hold of the rope, and Jade, Iggy, Fang, and I all pulled her up. Fang, Iggy, and I were also stronger than any human, also. Jade's extra help helped a lot, though. We pulled Dr. M up in a matter of seconds.

I untied the rope and gave it back to Jade. "Thanks." I said.

She gave a bright smile, "Anytime. Hey, do you guys need a ride to your house?"

"No." I said. Trust no one.

"But, Max, it's a long way home," Dr. M reminded me. "We need to make sure everyone over there is okay." Crap. I hated when she was right.

"Your windows are tinted, and it'd be a different car, so no they wouldn't be able to tell it was us." I said to Jade, but mostly to myself. "Alright, a ride would be great."

Once in Jade's car, my mom riding shotgun, and me in the middle of Fang and Iggy, Jade finished retying the suitcases in the bed, and we got on our way home.

If I forgot to mention my paranoia, and terrible claustrophobia, then let me tell you about them right now. You see, being raised for the first years of my life inside a dog cage in a place where you'd wish for death due to all the tests and experiments that included fighting for your life, and trying to stay alive, really does have an effect on you. Iggy felt my tenseness, and grabbed my hand, interlacing our fingers. It felt really comforting, but at the same time, very awkward. "Max," Iggy whispered, so low that only test subjects such as myself and Fang could hear. "It's alright, everything is going to be okay."

I nodded my head, and rested it on his shoulder. My still wet hair fell into my eyes, and I swept it away irritably, noticing the look of deadly calmness on Fang's face. It was nearly impossible to see, but still there. He's very scary when he's mad. But what is he mad about?

"So, I, like, never got any of your names, besides Max, of course," Jade said suddenly. "Mine is Jade."

"Well," Dr. M began, "I'm Dr. Valencia Martinez, but you can call me Val or Dr. M. That's Iggy, Max, and...um." Crap. I forgot to tell them about Fang.

"This is Fang." I helped. "He's and old friend, mom." Dr. M nodded her head, but I knew she'd want to hear more about it later.

"Wow. Fang. Interesting name," Jade said somewhat seriously.

"I could say the same to you," Fang said. It was the first thing he said since I was alone in the ocean with him. His deep, smooth voice surprised everyone in the car, and it only made his image more mysterious (what with the dark everything about him already).

Jade laughed. "Yeah, I guess you can. My parents named me that because my eyes were the color of jade when I was born. Now they're sort of an electric blue. Why'd your parents name you Fang? Were you, like, born with fangs?" Fang's jaws clenched. And I mentally face-palmed myself.

"_Fang_ is his nickname," I said as if it were obvious. I gave her that name only because I had to introduce him to my mom and Iggy, and we kind of haven't talked about the dangers of giving away identity to strangers yet. Remind me to later, okay?

"Oh, okay then, that makes a lot more sense," she said, tilting her head in thought, her smile faltering a little. Then she just shrugged, and started smiling again. "What's your exit?"

"It's the next one coming up." Dr. M said.

* * *

Finally,_ finally, _we made it back home. **Finally. **

I was literally jumping in my seat, itching to make sure that my family is safe. Not to mention the fact that Jade is just a bit _too _bubbly. "Call me if you need anything!" Jade insisted. She gave my mom her phone number that my mom saved in her contact book. Dr. M thanked her for everything, and then waved her off, as I stayed put until Jade was out of sight. Remember, I can't stress it enough: _**don't trust anybody.**_

When I saw that she was really gone, out of my "raptor-vision", as I like to call it, we rushed to the door. "Wait!" I said in a hushed voice. "They could be inside." Fang and Iggy nodded, but my mom had a terrified look on her face.

Iggy tilted his head to the side very faintly, which is the signal for me to listen very carefully. "It's quiet." Fang said.

"Too quiet." I added, for effect. And for humor. What can I say? I have a corny sense of humor.

"No, no, no!" Iggy whispered. "Do you hear that?" I put his hand on my face as I shook my head no. He looked at me in the eyes, which was creepy, because he's blind, and said in a horrified tone, "It's the worst thing I can ever imagine going on inside." My eyes widened, and I turned quickly for the door knob, twisting it, when Iggy's hand caught mine to stop me. "Shh, let me lead the way."

You see, Iggy has this ability to make a map of any place he's in. Like, after about a week of living here, he was able to know exactly where the furniture was located, and how to navigate through the rooms. The only problems he has is when someone moves something around without notifying him. Or, when Ari decides to be cruel and leaves his shoes in front of the staircase. Good thing we're stronger than average humans. And we heal more quickly, too.

Iggy let the way inside, and we all slowly and quietly made our way through the corridor to thee family game room, which was the only door closed. I very faintly heard some strange tune:

_Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination, and when he's tall he's what we call a dinosaur sensation!_

My eyes widened in disbelief, and I literally face-palmed myself, then barged in. What I saw was really horrifying, though. What I saw was Ella, Nudge, Gazzy, Ari, and Angel sitting around the television watching Barney. They all turned around to stare at me in horror, I guess at the realization of being caught red-handed.

"Max!" Ella cried. "It's not what it looks like!"

"Yeah!" Nudge helped. "You see, we were, like, all sitting here at home, bored out of our minds worrying about you, which, by the way, was stupid that we weren't allowed to go and visit you when you nearly died! But, anyways, Jeb was here, too, and then Dr. M went to go and pick you and Iggy up, but, it was like, a really long time since she had left, so Jeb told us that he was going to go and check up on you guys, and left Ella in charge, which, by the way, is also stupid, because, like, yeah, she may be a year older than me, but come on! A. I don't even know my own birthday, so I could be the same age as her! And B. I, just to let you know, was put through torture growing up, so I think that I'm more capable of being in charge! But, anyways, that's not the point. The point is that we had nothing to do, were bored out of our minds, and there are kind of like three little kids here, so we figured that they'd like to watch Barney! Not us! We don't do this daily!" She said within half a minute. I looked over to Fang to see a look of pure shock on his face. I guess Nudge makes up for what Fang doesn't say, so the world stays in balance.

Nudge followed my line of sight, and saw Fang standing there, in nothing but his black boxers. "Why, hello there!" She said way too cheerily for a thirteen year old. "What's your name?"

"Woah, Max," Ella started. "Whose the hot, dark guy?"

"The hot, dark guy's name is Fang," I said, embarrassed at the fact that they said that in front of him.

"Wow," Ella said. "Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent. I like that." I face-palmed myself again, for, what? The umpteenth time.

"Anyways!" I changed the subject. "So, nobody came here? There was no trouble?"

"Trouble?" Angel asked sweetly. "What kind of trouble?"

"I'll take that as a 'there-were-no-bad-guys-but-Ari-did-happen-to-pull-something-while-Gazzy-came-up-with-a-new-idea-for-an-explosive-object-of-some-sort'." I suggested.

"Wow," Ari whispered to Gazzy, "she's good." I began to face-palm myself, but I decided better of it, for fear of getting serious brain damage.

"Okaaaaaaay." I tried again. "You guys can continue to watch your favorite buddy, while we go get changed."

"But, Max, what is Fang going to wear?" Angel asked, smiling up at me angelically. Her big, sky blue eyes and curly, golden hair gave her the look of an angel, which is where she got her name. Her sweet, sweet personality goes well with it, too.

"Um, I guess he'll have to wear some thing of Iggy's, if that's okay?" I looked over to Fang and Iggy. They both nodded their heads. "Alright, follow me." I instructed, and I led the way up the stairs to Iggy, Gazzy, and Ari's room. They shared a room, while Ella, Nudge, and Angel shared a room, as I was the only one with my own room. Hey, being the leader and a sixteen year old girl has its advantages. Plus, they all got along really well, and my parents didn't want to squish me in there, too.

"Well," Iggy started, directly to Fang, "I guess you can choose whichever clothes you like that fit you." I smiled, and left them to each other, heading for my room just across the hall.

Once there, I picked out a pair of blue denim shorts, a white tank-top, and bra and panties, and headed for the shower. Once done and dressed, I headed back to everyone. "Max!" Dr. M called. "I have to redo your ankle, come here." I went to the kitchen where I saw her already washed and dressed, along with Fang and Iggy.

"Dang, you guys shower fast." I commented.

"Nah, you just shower slow," Iggy retaliated, grinning widely in his white basketball shorts and light blue T-shirt. I smacked him on his arm. "Ow, Max! What was that for?"

"For nearly scaring me to death more than once today," I informed him of my violent behaviour. He shrugged.

"Sorry, Maxie," he said playfully, giving me a bear hug.

"Can't," gasp, "breathe!" He let me go with a smile, and sauntered into the hall, probably to go tease Nudge and Ella about watching Barney.

"Max, I got the bandages, just sit down and stay still," my mother said.

"No promises," I said, lifting myself onto the island. I saw Fang, dressed in black basketball shorts and a black T-shirt (what a surprise. No, really, it is. I didn't know Iggy owned black anything, mainly since he's such an upbeat, and bright person.), give the faintest hint of his lips twitching up into a smile, but it was hard to see under his dark expression. I smiled at him, but he just raised an eyebrow in return. I gave him an annoyed expression as my mom finished cleaning and rebandaging my ankle, annoyed at his glum attitude. He seemed pretty content when we were swimming, but ever since we got in the car, he was all 'what do you want?'.

All of a sudden, we heard a big bang, and then we heard Iggy yell, "ARI!", as the sounds of childish laughter errupted from the game room, and Dr. M ran off muttering something along the lines of, 'that kid should get a wiff of the Gasman's digestive system to teach him a lesson'. I laughed, and said, "No, mom! You want to teach Ari a lesson, not kill him!" And then I pondered it for a second, and decided to question it. "Right?"

Not even a second later, Ari came running through the kitchen, trailed by a steaming Iggy chasing after him. I caught his hand as he went by, and he stopped to look at me. Again: creepy for the blind guy. "What'd he do this time?" I asked Iggy.

Iggy's face instantly lost the red shade of anger, going back to his usual paleness. "I was playing Call of Duty with Gazzy, and I got really excited because I got a nuke, so I jumped up and started victory dancing, and then when I went to sit back down, Ari had moved my chair back, and I fell hard. I'm tired of him exploiting my disability." He said this, and I got a little upset.

"What disability?" I asked him, angered.

"Um, my blindness, duh! Hello, Max, but in case if isn't obvious to you, I can't see a damn thing!"

"So that makes you 'disabled'?" I asked him, now completely upset that he said and thinks like that. "Hmm, let's see...if you were disabled, would you be able to get around everywhere without tripping, or even stumbling? With little to no assistance? No. Would you be able to win so many damn achievements on a videogame that even people who can see still suck at? No. Would you be able to cook the most delicious food ever? No, again! So don't you dare think of yourself as disabled or helpless!" He nodded his head, with nothing left to say, and I wrapped my arms around his waist, and stood on my tippy-toes to whipser in his ear, "Because you're not." He smiled, and wrapped his arms around mine for a few seconds.

I pulled away, and called, "Ari!" After a few moments hesitation, he showed his head around the doorway of the laundry room. "Come here, please." He came over to me, knowing that I was angry at him. I picked him up (which wasn't easy since he was one big nine year old), and set him on the island. "Now, Ari, why must you always cause Iggy problems?"

"Because it's fun!" He said, then saw the look on my face and decided to change his answer. "I mean, um, I'm sorry and I won't do it again?"

"That's more like it. You have to show Iggy respect, as well as everyone else."

"Okay," he said, defeated.

"Now tell Iggy that you're sorry."

"Sorry, Iggy."

"Yeah, yeah," Iggy said, "but you seriously need to stop, man. Comprende?" Ari nodded his head, jumped of the island, and pulled Iggy back to the game room with him.

"Wow," said a voice from the other side of the kitchen, and I jumped in surprise into a fighting stance. Habit. I saw that it was only Fang.

"Crap, Fang! I almost forgot you were there!" I said, exasperated. "Wow what?" He shook his head 'never mind'. I crossed my arms over my chest, irritated. "What's your problem, Fang?"

"Who ever said I had a problem?"

"You have this...mood thing going on all of a sudden."

"Oh, really? You noticed?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" He just shook his head and headed for the sliding glass doors that lead out to the beach. I wrote a quick note on the white-erase board that stuck to the fridge, then bolted out after him. "Fang!" I called to him, trying to catch up. He walked pretty damn fast, and it pissed me off that he was just walking out. Especially for reasons that I didn't even know! "Fang!" I called again, as we got closer to the pier. We were a few meters out when I finally caught up to him. "Fang!" I yelled one last time, stepping in front of him and pushing him back by his shoulders. "What the hell?" I yelled.

"Leave me alone," he said icily, pushing past me to continue walking down the pier.

"Do NOT walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" I yelled at him, following.

"What are you, my mother?" he asked, still walking.

"Obviously not! Because if I was I wouldn't have given you up to the whitecoats for crack money!" I screamed at him, seething. That made him stop so suddenly I almost ran into his back. He whirled around, a look of pure rage in his eyes.

"No? Would you just abandon me there with them?" He asked, his voice dangerously low and calm. His remark made anger flare up indise me, and I shoved him.

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Really? 'Cause I think I do. On the other hand, you have no clue what you were saying."

"Hmm," I mocked, putting my hand on my chin and looking up as if in thought. "I don't know, it sounded like you thought I had abandoned you at the School that long time ago." I said, poking his shoulder with my index finger in accusation.

"And you're standing there calling my mother a crackhead."

"Because she is!" I yelled. "Remember when we overheard whitecoats talking in the School? Remember when they teased you about being an accident that happened when she tried getting money for some drugs? Because I do!" I spat at him.

"I'd rather have my mother be a druggy than have my father kill and torture innocent human beings." He spat right back.

"At least my father saved me from them!"

"Yeah? And what about the other hundreds of kids being tortured and killed everyday?" He finally snapped. "What about me?" He asked more quietly, but it was like a slap to the face.

"Don't blame me for that," I said quietly.

"Stop insulting me and my mother, then." He said with venom dripping from each word, his mouth showing his perfectly white teeth with every syllable.

I was so angry at him that I looked down and thought I got sun burn all over my body. My face was so heated, and I felt like hooking him in those pearly whites as hard as I could. So, instead, I just turned around, and dove into the water. I was relieved when I saw my fins back and was able to breathe underwater. I dove down deep, wishing to put as much distance as possible between him and I. I also saw that I still had my bra and tank top on, but since I had no legs I also had no shorts or underwear. I mentally shrugged. At least I wasn't skinny dipping in broad daylight.

Suddenly, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle, but before I could turn around to face the disturbance, I felt two strong, wiry arms wrap around my own from behind. I tried to struggle to get away, but the arms wouldn't budge. I turned my head around to see the specific person that I wanted to get away from holding me tight in his arms. I also saw that he had no shirt on. He must've pulled it off and left it on the pier.

"Let go of me!" I commanded, still struggling. My struggling faltered for a moment because I had almost forgotten what my voice sounded like under water. He didn't respond, but started dragging me back to the surface, his long, strong, dark tail moving against my own as he swam. I decided to stop playing Mrs. Polite girl, and bit down on his arm. He cursed, letting go of me. I took advantage and started swimming away as fast as I could, but he was faster. He snapped out his arm to catch my own retreating one, and pulled me back to him. I put my arms up against his bare chest, trying to push myself away, but his vice-like grip of my back made it nearly impossible. "Erugh!" I groaned, pushing with all my strength. "I said, let me go!"

"Max, stop," he said calmly.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I screetched, and he began shushing me. I kept going, though, too stubborn to give in. He brushed his black tail against my light blue one that shone a green and yellow, and that instantly calmed me down. I stopped struggling, and rested my head on his shoulder, hiding my face from view.

"We have to get out of here, especially now that you made me bleed." He informed me.

"Why?" I questioned. I got my answer when I looked behind Fang to see the half-human half-shark creature swimming straight towards us. "Oh," I said, wrapping my arms around Fang's shoulders.

**Holy crapoly my fingers and eyes hurt. It's about 5,130 words, so I reeeeally hope you guys enjoyed. Reviews are wonderful, and the more reviews I get, the longer and faster the chapters ;) This could've been two seperate chapters, but, nah, I love you all too much :) so review!**

**Kaythanks:)**

**|l**

**\/**


	9. Eraser

**So...this chapter isn't nearly as long as the last chapter, but I've been mega busy, and I just wanted to get something out to you guys. I also want to start another story for MR, and for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I'm obsessed with that, too, and have an idea for it ;) **

I gripped onto his shoulders tightly, as if that would get me away from the creature's path. "Um, Fang?," I asked, giving him the clue that it was coming for us. To tell you the truth, now that my anger towards Fang had subsided, I didn't want to get out of his arms. Now, of course, I had to, unless I wanted to be eaten by a creature that is artificially existing. Hmm, life drives a hard bargain.

Fang let go of me to turn around and look at the creature that was coming at us really fast. "Let's go, now!" Fang yelled, grabbing my wrist and swimming towards shore as fast as he could. The problem with that was that I was still getting used to the whole 'tail-and-fins' thing, so I couldn't really keep up, and I was dragging him behind. Plus, the strange creature somehow was faster than us, and was gaining on us quickly. If we didn't get to land soon, we were going to have to fight it. Now, there are many problems with that. The first one being that it must be stronger than us. Remember when Fang tried to fight it, but almost lost if it weren't for me? Yeah. Another problem is that I have never fought anything underwater, and imagine everything that could possibly go wrong thanks to that disadvantage. "Max, you have to swim faster!" Fang ordered, pulling me along as best as he could.

"I can't!" I groaned, flipping my fins the best I could. It seemed like we were getting no where, but I could see the shore coming up.

"Yes you can." He said. "We're almost there." I looked back one more time, only to see that the shark was right behind us, teeth jutting out dangerously close to my fins. I let out a surprised yelp, and did a barrel roll to the left, while pushing Fang to do so to the right. We weren't going to make it to shore on time, no doubt.

I looked over to Fang, to make sure he was okay, but I found him looking back at me. 'Go!', I could nearly hear him shouting to me. I shook my head 'no', and looked towards the creature, who had missed us by centimeters. Its inertia caused it to swim ahead of us a few feet, but it quickly did a one-eighty, and came straight at me. My eyes widened in shock. Why the h-e-double hockey sticks did it want to eat ME so bad? Does my blood appeal to it? My ankle had mostly healed already, if you don't remember my mentioning of my insane healing abilities. Plus, Fang was the one bleeding this time..."Ugh! What do you want from me?" I yelled at it in frustration, dodging another attempt by swimming up and out of the way.

To my surprise, it turned around and hesitated, and began to speak. "I have orders," it growled menacingly, and my eye twitched in agitation, before it came at me again.

"And what may those be?" I pried, twirling to the left this time, but it anticipated that, but I couldn't see where to dodge thanks to my long, light brown hair twirling in my face. I felt something heavy hit into me from behind, pushing me down to the sandy bottom of the ocean floor. I looked up and behind to see Fang laying on top of me in a protective way, before he got up again. I followed almost right after.

"To capture you," it informed in a voice made of honey. "Dead or alive. And, I'm allowed to include anyone who gets in my way," it said, eying Fang. It slowly swam closer to us, but Fang and I held our positions, never backing down. I saw Fang's fist clench in preparation, and I did the same, putting my forearms in front of me in a fighting stance.

I gave my death glare, intimidating the creature further. "Don't you _dare_ even touch him," I growled, a snarl ripping through my throat. I felt my face scrunch up in rage. "I'll rip you apart thoroughly if you do...that's not a threat, its a _promise_."

"Ooh, it seems you're very...close with him?" The creature implied, giving off a sly smile. I instantly tensed; this creature was up to no good, that I was sure of. By this time, it was really close to us, I'd say a mere ten feet away.

"What's it to you?" I sneered viciously. This caused the creature to laugh maniacally.

"You'll see," he said, as he launched himself at Fang so fast that it caught both of us off guard. I meant what I said, though, and before it could get its teeth into Fang, I made my move. Fang moved towards me to try to dodge, making the creature swim a little towards me, too. Using this to my advantage, I swam up and on to the top of the creature, pulling on its fin on the top of its body. This caused it to move with me, pulling it away from Fang at the last moment. Once I made sure its mouth was away from Fang, I jabbed my finger into its eyes, and earned a yell of pain from it.

It flung me off backwards and I flipped, keeping my eyes on it. It rounded on me, but this time Fang came up in between the creature and I, a landed a punch right on its nose. It scurried away, but neither of us complained. "What in the world _is _that thing?" I asked Fang.

"I call their kind Erasers. They set out on erasing all the failed experiments that the School made from existence."

"So, I'm a failure?" I asked, dropping my gaze.

"No."

"Then why are they after _me_?" I pressed. I got a mere shrug in reply. "Whatever. Let's get out of here before it comes back," And with that, we started to climb up the nearest ladder to the pier. Which isn't all that easy when you don't have legs. "Iggy will probably be wondering what happened to us anyway." Fang nodded.

**Fang's POV**

"Iggy will probably be wondering what happened to us anyway." Max stated, climbing up the ladder ahead of me.

Iggy will probably be wondering what happened to Max, of course. She's got her hooks in deep on him, yet she doesn't even realize it. Yeah, she thinks of him as a brother, nothing else. Or so she says. I still hear those three words she said to him as he lay dying. Although, I can't really blame her. She does love him, whether it be in a family way, or she has more than sisterly feelings for him. Mix that with the fact that he nearly died, and you got a confessing Max and a broken Fang.

Or, I can just be miscalculating everything.

Who knows? It's not like I have that close relationship with her, anyways. The last time we were close at all was back when we were kids at the School. Iggy is with her everyday of their life now, and I'm just intruding.

For now, I won't take any chances of rejection. I'll just let them do their own thing while I do mine, and keep my feelings to myself until I can get close to her again. With that, I nodded my head at her.

**So, I hope you guys liked this little chapter...I am only going to put in Fang point of views when there aren't cliff hangers, mmkay? Puppybluie: don't worry, Jade will be in later chapters. Again thanks for everything, guys! I would abandon this story it it weren't for you reviwers, honestly. I am writing this for you all, not me. I could just imagine it in my head ;) **

**Review ! You know you want to... ;)**

**Kaythanks:)**

**|.|**

**\/**


	10. Intruder

**Hey guys! Sorry about the shortness of the last chapter, but I was really busy! I have been out of my house more than I have been in it, therefore have little to no time to write, and I wanted to get something out to you guys. And please don't hate me for the Miggy. For the umpteenth time this is a pure FAX story! I sorta like a little bit of Miggy, and it _is_ MY story, so I figured why not add it to the story if I want to? I'm trying hard to please you readers, so I'm putting as little as possible without completely taking it out, but its really irritating when no matter how many times I say this is a fax story, I get complaints about the Miggy. I put up a poll for a reason, you know. Whatever, sorry for my rant, but I want everyone to know that the Miggy is for the extra Fax, okay? Enjoy!**

The walk back to the house was long and uncomfortable. Fang's mood swings hadn't worn off after the little run-in, or swim-in, whatever, with the, what did he call it? Eraser? Whatever. He had just thrown on his shirt, and headed back to the house without so much as a word. It's not like I expected so much, anyhow. I was, however, waiting to hear some sort of explanation as to why I was so wanted as a meal for some creature I didn't know even existed. No, that was asking too much, apparently. I watched his retreating form in mild aggravation. A few seconds later, when he didn't turn around or pay any attention to me at all, I followed.

I paced my feet to carry me faster and completely pass him before he was even half way to the house, whether that be childish or not. At that point I didn't really care if he noticed my frustration, I just continued ignoring his presence as he did mine.

Entering the house, I took quick notice to my family sitting around a single couch. On it sat Jeb and my mo—Dr. M, with the rest of the kids surrounding them. I saw that Jeb held a piece of paper that looked like it had been dealt with carelessness.

Walking over to them, I said, "What's going on?" No reply was made, Jeb simply handed me the sheet of paper that read:

_Dear Maximum Ride,_

_ You've escaped every encounter with our experiments so far. Not for much longer, tho. Your fate is in your hands, but not so much the same as goes the fate of your family. Theirs is in our hands as long as you are not with us. _

_ Until then, the safety of you and your family is at stake. _

_ -Anonymous_

"Who gave this to you?" I asked Jeb sternly.

"I found it on the doorstep as I came home a few minutes ago."

I froze. A few minutes ago? They know where we live, and they were just here. They could still be here, too. I looked behind me to Fang, who had read the letter over my shoulder. We locked eyes, and he nodded.

"Stay there, guys," I instructed everyone save for Fang. "Don't move or make a sound. Iggy, keep an ear out for anything. Nudge, I'm counting on you to be his eyes and be a look out." They all nodded back tentatively, and Fang and I began our move.

Fang moved for the back yard, and I went for the front.

Being sure to look out the peephole first, I poked my head out the door, and carefully stepped outside fully, looking for any signs of danger or life. I made sure to check the bushes and plants that surrounded the whole front of the house. When those were clear, I scanned my eyes over the small stretch of woods that bordered the streets. I couldn't see anything but the trees and plants, so I went back inside after one last sweep of my eyes.

Back inside I went down the narrow corridor leading to the game room. I checked inside every room quickly and came to a stop at the end of the hall, where a breeze came from an open window. I shuddered at the creepy sight of the curtains blowing and looked out the window just in case, then slowly pulled down the lower half of the glass window, shutting it. I turned around, nearly yelping at the sight of the Gasman standing at the other end of the hallway.

Walking toward him, I asked, "Didn't I tell you to stay with the rest of the family in the living room?"

He replied, "Yeah, but, Max, I was getting worried and-"

He was cut off with his own scream of terror as a hand clamped around my mouth and an arm snaked around my arms and torso.

I stomped on a booted foot with mine, and thanked myself for wearing tennis shoes. The intruder's grip on me loosened, and I quickly spun out of his hold. I saw that the stranger was fully cloaked in black, and even wore a black ski mask. Not one part of his skin showed.

He grabbed for me again, but I grabbed hold of one of his wrists, turned around, and flipped him over my shoulder. He landed on his back with a loud thud, and I quickly stomped on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. I then took the opportunity to roll him over onto his stomach, and grabbed both of his wrists, pulling back as I stepped on his back. With one foot on the floor, the other on his back, and his wrists in my hands, I towered over him, and pulled firmly on his arms. "Who are you, and what do you want?" I demanded. I heard the rest of my family shuffle into the hallway, looking from me to the intruder and back.

Fang pushed through to me, got down, and twisted the stranger's head to one side, and spoke with a voice of steely calm. "Answer her."

The intruder simply spit in Fang's face. Fang returned a powerful blow to the stranger's temple, knocking him out.

I dropped his arms, and they thunk-ed to the floor carelessly. "We have to get out of here," I stated simply to Fang. He nodded, and I turned to my family. "Get back to the living room, and grab the phone."

They all did as I said, and I stepped off of the stranger. Fang flipped him over onto his back and took off the mask. Under it was the face of a man, but with the rubbery skin and pointy teeth of that of a shark. It was fading back into regular human features thanks to the knock out. Fang looked up at me and our eyes met. "Eraser," we stated at the same time. "Bring him inside and let the others know everything that you know. I have a phone call to make." I said to Fang.

He nodded, and dragged the Eraser into the living room. I followed behind, making sure that no other intruders decided to visit. Gasps were heard throughout my whole family, save for Iggy, as Fang tied the Eraser to a metal folding chair with a strong kind of rope my dad used. Gazzy began describing the features of it to Iggy, and Nudge handed me the phone. I stepped into the dining room as I heard questions flooding the air in the living room, dialing a new number of someone I hadn't planned before.

Jade.

The phone rang twice before a familiar voice picked up. "Hello!" She said into the phone happily.

"Jade? This is Max from earlier, remember?"

"Oh, Max! Hi! What's up?"

"Are you busy?"

"No! I'm actually soooooooo bored, like, you wouldn't believe it! Right now, I'm sitting down watching T.V., while, like, everyone else is probably hanging out with their fri-"

"Jade," I cut her off. "Would you like to help me with something?"

"Yes! Anything to get me out of this house for as long as possible!"

"Listen carefully." I began. "I need you to come over here to my house with your pick up truck. I want you to take some of my family and get as far away as you can. Another state, the other side of the country, I don't care. I need you to bring them to a hotel, we'll supply money, it doesn't matter. Do you understand?"

"Yes! Road trip! Whoop whoop!"

"No! Jade, you need to stay on the down low. I'm talking about disguises and fake names and all that jazz, okay?"

"Like in those cool movies? Sweet!"

"Do you think you can handle it?"

"I know I can!"

"Good. Get here A.S.A.P."

"I'm on it!" The line went dead, and I went back inside to hear Fang briefly describing the Eraser, and about the School, and Mom and Iggy were helping to fill in what happened after we got out of the hospital. They informed everyone about the fact that we were being chased. I entered the room and all heads swiveled towards me.

"Listen, guys, this is how it's going down," I began. "Our new friend, Jade, is coming to pick Jeb, Dr. M, Ella, and Ari up, okay? She's going to bring you guys far away so that I have time to figure out what the School wants."

"What?" Ella cried. She and Ari both ran and clung to me, refusing to be without me and the others.

"I know you guys don't want to be apart, but its for the best. You two weren't in the School, so they won't be after you." I looked up at Jeb and Dr. M. "You must protect them, no matter what. You will need fake names, and possibly disguises. No credit or debit cards, only cash. If you stop at an ATM, get the money you need, and get as far away from there as you can."

"What about us?" Angel asked sadly.

"You'll be staying with us. We need to get far away from here, too, and figure out what's going on. We will meet up with the others somewhere when its safe." I turned to Jeb again. "Stay in touch if something comes up. All calls no more than fifteen seconds, got it?" He nodded. "There's no time to take anything besides cell phones, so let's go! Everyone outside!"

I ushered everyone outside, and left the Eraser tied tightly to the chair. It didn't matter anymore.

As we hurried up the driveway, I said, "Remember to tell Jade only cash, and all calls fifteen seconds or less." They all nodded, as a black pick up truck pulled up. The tinted window rolled down, revealing a very excited Jade.

"Hey, guys!" She said.

"Hey, Jade, thanks for everything. My family will let you know what's going on, but on a need to know basis, got it?" They all nodded, and Jeb, Ari, Ella, and Dr. M climbed into the truck, and Jade sped off.

"Where does this leave us?" Gazzy asked.

"No time," I said, running to Jeb's van. The others followed. I got in the driver's seat, Fang got in the passenger's seat, and the rest got in the back.

"Do you have the keys?" Angel asked.

"No," I said, and went under the steering wheel to hot wire the car.

"I could've done that faster," Iggy teased, but I chose to ignore him, backing out of the driveway. Okay, I'm not a professional driver, but it didn't matter.

"Okay, guys," Nudge started, and everyone groaned. "I'm, like, totally confused! Please tell me where we are going and what's gonna happen! How about Ella and Ari and Jeb and Dr. M? Who the heck was that Jade girl? How do you know her? How can you trust her? Why is the School after us?"

Fang cut her off before she could keep going. "The School isn't after all of us."

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

"They're after me." I said simply.

"What?" Iggy demanded.

"Max is...special." Fang said. Way to put it, Sherlock.

"Can you clarify, Mr. Talkative?" Iggy asked.

"Look, we had a run in with another Eraser...or the same one, I'm not sure. Only it was in the ocean," I figured they should know everything since, you know, their lives are at stake. It's only fair.

"Wait, Max," Iggy began. "When were you in the ocean with the...Eraser? And how did we survive the car crash?"

"Car crash?" The kids yelled at the same time.

"The car crash isn't important right now," I stated to them as I span the van around. I floored the petal, and zoomed off down the road. "Both Fang and I were in the ocean with the Eraser twice, but that doesn't matter right now, either, because we're alive. But," I paused, so they'd know to pay serious attention, "I'm a mermaid. That's how we survived the crash."

There was a long moment of silence, since no one knew what to say. I couldn't bother to worry about whether they believed me or not, I just had to pay attention to the road and make sure that I didn't wrap the van around a tree or something. Once we hit the main road, however, I had to slow down to avoid unwanted attention and the cops. Not only would I be ticketed for speeding, but I'd be in bigger trouble since I had no license.

"Are you serious?" Gazzy asked.

I nodded. "Fang and I both."

"How? Why? Since when?" Iggy asked.

"How? The School more than likely grafted fish DNA into our systems while we were there, which is why we suspect all of you to be mer-folk, too. Why? I don't know, some sick joke, I guess? You know what they did to us and other experiments there...look at the Erasers, for example. Since when? I'm guessing my whole life, but I just found out about it while I almost drowned saving your life as well as Dr. M's and my own." I took a deep breath. Nudge moment, much?

"Wow!" Nudge began. Oh, no, help us. "That's, like, really, really cool! Do you have tails, or fins, or whatever they call it? What color are they? I bet Fang's is black! After all, he is Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent...but I guess we have to add mysterious to that alias now, huh? I guess emo could work, too, or goth, but what's the difference? No offense, Fang, but you do pull of that look, all you have to do is add black eyeliner. Ooooh! That's a good idea! I want to do your make up! Black eyeshadow would do good on you, too, but I think you should add a little bit more color..." She trailed off in thought, and I glanced at Fang, who was looking at me with a 'is she serious?' expression. I couldn't hold off my laughter, and apparently neither could the rest of the gang.

"No, Nudge, you cannot put make up on Fang," I said with amusement, and Fang gave a grateful look, to which I smiled back in return. Nudge made a face of disappointment, and it took all of my willpower not to break out in laughter.

"How can we know if we are mermaids, too?" Angel asked.

I looked to Fang for an answer, since I honestly didn't know. I mean, how many times have I been out in the ocean swimming and hadn't grown a tail and fins? Many. So why did it happen so suddenly?

Fang replied, "We can test it out." I mulled over it. Sure, we can go to the beach in a secluded area and try it, which will also give them a chance to see Fang and I.

"Yeah," I agreed. "You guys can see us, too." They all agreed excitedly, and we headed for the beach.

* * *

When we got to a small stretch of a beach just outside the town, the kids ran as fast as they could to the water. "Alright, alright, hold on, guys." I warned. "See us first, and then try so that Fang and I can keep a look out for Erasers, got it?" They all nodded in response, and Fang and I headed into the water, clothes and all.

When we got knee deep in the chilly, salty waves, both of our legs began to glow, and finally changed into tails and fins as we submerged fully. Under the water, I looked at Fang to see him looking back, his jet-black, shaggy hair floating around his head in the sexiest manner. Wait. Forget I said that. We both surfaced to see our family staring back at us in shock. Gazzy began describing to Iggy what had happened, while Nudge and Angel jumped hastily into the waters, both Gazzy and Iggy soon following.

All were disappointed when they surfaced with no fins.

Loud whines and complaints were made from the three younger kids, while Iggy just looked to me, which was really creepy, 'cause, you know, _he's blind_. "Why didn't it work for us, Max?" he asked.

"It's probably because I almost died when it happened to me."

"That's possible," Fang said, and all eyes (including Iggy's) turned to him. "I, too, was in a near death situation when I got mine."

"Well, then, why didn't I get mine the same time Max did?" Iggy asked him.

"Maybe because you were already knocked out at the time?" I suggested. Fang nodded.

"So we have to be conscious and in danger to trigger our DNA?" He asked. This time I nodded along with Fang. "Great." He said, and ushered the kids out of the water.

**Okay, so no cliffy, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The Fax is building up; I don't want them to just be like 'I love you' 'Oh, I love you, too' and then they make out. So, review! Compliment me, critique me, whatever! But no complaints about Miggy, please. Especially since there was, like, none here.**

**Kaythanks:)**


	11. Attempted

**Sorry if I updated slow again! :0, but school just started, so I think I'll have more time to write, which means quicker updates! :) Also, the reviews motivate me, so thanks to everyone who reviews! The more reviews, the quicker the update...not trying to say that I'll only update fast if there are a lot of reviews, just saying that they motivate me to write so review :) **

We decided to stay on the sand for a little, just to dry off and figure out what our plan was going to be...since, you know, I'm so hasty and impulsive that I hadn't included the fact that we had no money, or places to stay into our runaway plan. Smart move, Max.

"I say we head south," Gazzy suggested lightly from his place on the sand. He was using his fingers to draw pictures into the loose grains of sand. "You know, to the more rural places. Things shouldn't be too expensive there, I'm sure we could find a place to stay, and there's not too many people. That means that it wouldn't be too hard to spot an Eraser."

"Good points, Gazzy," I agreed. "But why worry about expenses when we have no money at all, either way? And where would we stay? On the side of the country road?"

"Fine," Gazzy snapped. "I was just giving ideas. You don't have to be so sarcastic all the time. Well at least I'm trying to think a plan through, unlike some people, your highness." His retort was so unexpected that it left everyone, excluding Fang (you know, Mr. Emotionless), with dropped jaws and wide eyes. I could see what Gazzy was on about, though. He's always so brave and strong, especially for his age and our circumstances, that I seem to forget to be softer with him sometimes.

"Hey," I said softly, scooting over in the sand to be next to him. "I didn't mean to be sarcastic. It's just how I am, you know." I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, " Those were some pretty good ideas, though. Better than Iggy's."

"Hey!" Iggy defended. "I thought my idea of creating near death experiences for everybody so that they could grow fish tails was a great idea!"

I just giggled, keeping my eyes on Gazzy. "You see?" He nodded his head. "Forgive me?" He smiled, looking up at me, and nodded his head more profusely. I smiled in return, and ruffled his hair.

"So, Max?" Angel began. "How are we going to eat, and where are we going to stay if we have no money?"

"I don't know, Ange. But do you trust that I'll take care of you, no matter what?"

"Of course, Max." I gave her a small smile, but I had absolutely no idea of how we were going to survive. Not only did we have no shelter, but we had no money for food, or any of the basic necessities that were once a part of our daily lives. Now we had nothing but each other, and a big van that would run out of gas soon enough, and we had no money to pay for more.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, thinking of something. If worse came to worst, I would steal, even if it goes against what I believe is right. But how wrong could it be if it meant my family's lives? I felt a hand on my back, and stiffened out of habit, until I saw that it was only Fang reassuring me that we can make it. And that was true. No matter what, we could make it, as long as we're together. I gave him a small smile, relaxing into his warm gesture.

"Alright, guys," I started, in leader mode again. "We're going to take up Gazzy's plan to head south. I hope you guys don't mind breaking and entering, though." They all gave signs of encouragement, so I smiled proudly at my family, and we headed back to the van. "So, it looks like we're going to have to find some sort of money to pay for gas. Unless you guys would like to walk a few hundred miles?"

"Yeah, right," Iggy said. "A few miles maybe, not a few hundred, thank you very much."

I smiled at him through the rear view mirror, even though he couldn't see it. "Then I'm guessing you'd be fine in getting money no matter how it come about?"

"Fine with me," he shrugged.

"Me, too."

"Me three!"

"Same here."

The only person left who hadn't spoken their opinion was Fang. It wasn't really surprising, being that he doesn't speak. I looked over to him as we started off down the road. He didn't answer, but when I looked at him again, the smallest lift of the corner of his mouth told me all I needed to know: he was comfortable with whatever is necessary to survive, and would follow where I led. I grinned the cheesiest smile, and looked back at the road.

I figured it was best to follow the speed limit signs, since we weren't being chased we didn't have to speed and worry about crashing into solid objects. And then there's that whole situation about the cops, and unwanted attention, yadda yadda yadda.

"Hey, Max," Nudge began. "Do you know where exactly south we're going from here? Like, what state or whatever? Because I really want to go to Texas! I heard that there are some really nice places that we could see there!"

"That'd be really cool!" Gazzy agreed.

"I hate to burst your bubble, honey, but we're on the run now. Nothing is going to come easily to us from now on, and we can't go out of our way to go sight seeing." I told Nudge, and hated the look of disappointment on her face that came after wards.

"But what if we sight see along the way?" Angel asked sweetly.

"I'll decide along the way, okay, sweetie?" I said, and she nodded her head.

We approached an intersection, and the light had just changed to green. To the left was a black van stopped at the light. "Right now we need to focus on getting safe an—" I was cut off by the airbag being inflated into my face, and the seatbelt digging into my neck as I was thrown forward and to the right by a car crashing into the left side of the van. I felt the hard plastic cover from the air bag popping off and hitting the left side of my forehead. The windshield window cracked, but my driver seat window imploded and the glass cut me all over. The door compacted harshly into me, and my left arm was crushed in between the obliterated door and the steering wheel. A loud moan of pain escaped my lips, and I wanted so desperately to make sure everyone was alright, but there was so much pain.

The airbag was still covering my face, and if I didn't get it away, I would suffocate. I used my right hand to push it back far enough to turn my head to the right. I saw that Fang's window was shattered, and the right side of his head was bleeding, so it was obvious that the crash made his head smash into it, but he seemed okay enough. I saw him take off his seatbelt, and turn to check on the others. I could see that Gazzy and Angel were fine, just a little bruising from the seat belts, but Iggy and Nudge were behind me. From Fang's lack of reaction to checking on them, I assumed they were okay, too. The other van must have hit only into the driver's section, since there was so much damage to my door.

I heard the kids' cries, and I heard Fang tell Iggy the situation I was in, and saw him pushing on the airbag. Iggy came into view, and I saw him try taking my seat belt off. It was locked around my neck, and was slowly choking me. "Her seat belt's jammed! I can't get it out!" I heard Iggy yell to Fang.

"Push the airbag as far back as you can get it!" Fang instructed Iggy, to which Iggy complied. Iggy placed his hands over the top of my seat, and pushed the airbag as far as he could away from my face, as Fang searched for something to cut my seat belt with. He opened the glove compartment and dug around through all the paper and junk stored in there, and came across a seat belt cutter. While seat belts may save lives, seat belt cutters do, too. He cut my seat belt off, and said, "Why isn't the airbag deflating?"

"I don't know!" Iggy said. "Maybe a malfunction?"

Fang turned his attention back to me, relieved that I was breathing better now. "Max, baby, can you hear me?" I tried to rasp out a response, but found that I wasn't able to, so I nodded my head slowly in response. He then pulled on a part of the airbag, and managed to cut a little slit out of the airbag, and it deflated. "We got to her out of here. She's losing a lot of blood," he said to Iggy.

Iggy nodded. Then he turned to Nudge. "Nudge, I need you to get Angel and Gazzy out of the car, and I need you to take them onto the side of the road." Nudge nodded, for once at a loss of words, and swiftly did as told. "Max, can you move?"

I shook my head 'no', and lifted my right arm up to gesture to my left one. "Shit," Fang muttered, and began yanking on the steering wheel, trying to get it off of my arm. The movement just increased the pain, and I let out a groan of protest.

"Easy, man, you're hurting her," Iggy warned Fang, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Let me see." He reached over to the steering wheel, and felt around for my arm. I felt his long fingers gently brush against my skin, and it felt so good compared to the pain. I also felt contact on my right arm, so I looked over to see what it was. I saw Fang's olive-toned hand slowly tracing down my arm, then saw and felt his fingers lace through mine. And let me tell you, the sensation was extremely pleasureful.

I lifted my eyes to meet Fang's, and chills went down my spine. He sure knew how to take my mind off the pain; remind me to thank him later. For the moment, I smiled genuinely, to which he slightly returned. Iggy's hand wrapped around my wrist gently yet firmly, and slowly slid my arm from the metal door and the steering wheel. I took pleasure in the freedom of my limb, and felt Iggy's fingers running along my arm so gently, it was as if they weren't even there. "There are no breaks, but you're gonna be sore for a while," Iggy told me, and I was glad that it wasn't broken. "Alright, let's get out of here."

Iggy was out first, and I released Fang's hand so that I could pull myself out of the seat. Fang got out, then pulled me the rest of the way out, settling me on the ground. I limped over to the other van to make sure the driver was okay, but, there was no one there.

Fang came up beside me. "Hit and run?" He suggested.

"What?" Iggy said, joining us.

"There's no one in the other van. And there's no one around here at all. It's deserted." Fang informed him, and he nodded his head.

"So it is a hit and run?" Iggy inquired.

"No," I said raspy, narrowing my eyes. "It was an attempted murder."

"What makes you think that?" Iggy asked.

"Well, for one thing, the van was abandoned. Then, the area is deserted. I also saw the van stopped at the red light, so it was done purposely. Also, notice how it crashed directly into where I was, so whoever did this was aiming for me, and an Eraser I had encountered told me that the School wanted me dead or alive."

"That does make sense," he agreed.

"We need to find a new way to travel," I said. "Let's go check on the others." They both nodded, and started off to where the others sat on the other side of the road. I strayed behind a little, looking back at the black van. For a moment I contemplated searching it for any information.

"Max, are you coming?" Fang had stopped to check up on me. I turned back to look at him, and glanced at the van again before answering.

"Yeah," I said and tried my best not to limp as I caught up with him. He stood with one arm outstretched, and once I reached him, he wrapped it softly around my shoulders, and we started back together. "Thanks, Fang." I said sincerely.

"For what?" he asked, looking down at me.

"For everything," I said, meeting his eyes. To my surprise, he uses his arm that's still around me to pull me into him for a hug. He wrapped both of his arms around mine, and I wrapped mine around his waist tightly. I tiptoed a little to rest my chin on his shoulder.

He pressed his lips to my ear and whispered, "Anything." I closed my eyes as a tingle went down my side from his breath. He smelled amazing; like cinnamon. A bit reluctantly, I pulled away, and we continued around our totaled van and back to the others.

We approached Iggy and the kids, seeing him scanning over them to make sure they weren't hurt. I smiled a small smile, feeling proud at how tough they were being. I wanted to stay with them on the grass for a little and just relax and have fun, when I got the familiar sensation on the back of my neck that told me something bad was gonna happen. As a result, I instantly did a 360, keeping close eye on everything, including the woods that covered more than half the area.

"Let's go, guys." I said, gesturing with my hands for them to get up.

"What?" Fang asked, and the rest of my gang had surprised looks on their faces.

"We gotta go. Now." I said urgently.

"Max, you're hurt and you need to rest," Iggy said.

"I don't care, we have to go now!" I grabbed Angel and lifted her into my arms, and I pulled Gazzy onto his feet, and turned to start walking down the street. As soon as I turned around, I saw another black van heading down the street, and I froze in my spot, as did everyone else.

The van came to a stop a little further down the road, and the back door slid open. Out jumped one of the Erasers, followed by another, already changing into shark-form.

**I know, I know, its one problem after the next with them, but I can't help it! What's a good story without some good situations? Also, I'm debating on whether or not I should put a filler chapter, and let them have a break to just interact with each other. What do you think? Review!**

**Kaythanks:)**


	12. Changes

**Wow. Words can't express how sorry I am for taking so long to update! This summer was crazy I spent like three days at home out of three months, and then school came around, and I was sick for a week and a half and then make up homework stressed me out cuz, you know, teachers think you have no life and have all the time in the world to do homework...and all in all, I was rrrrrreeeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyy busy, so pleaseee forgive me. I hope you all are still interested in this story! And let me know what I can do to make it better!**

Sharp teeth sprouted from their mouths that set wide to fit all three rows. Long fins protruded from their backs as their skin took on a grayish color with a rubbery texture. No gills sprouted, and their limbs stayed intact because they could not morph completely as they are not in water. As shocked as I was, I quickly recovered, Angel still in my arms.

"Think we can take them?" I yelled back to Fang.

"No doubt," was his reply. "On second thought..." he trailed off as two more black vans came from opposite directions, and more Erasers hopped out.

"Crud!" I yelled. "We can't take them all, and they've cornered us!"

"No," Iggy piped in. "I can hear rushing water behind us through the woods. We can escape that way!"

"Good thinking, Igs, now go, go, GO!" I ordered everyone through the woods, and they immediately obeyed. I watched as they quickly ran off, scattering about to give each other enough room to run around trees and what not. I hurriedly ran after, Angel's weight in my arms slowing me down minutely, but it was enough. As mutant fish freaks, we had a lot of strength, speed, and agility, but it didn't mean that we were invincible. The extra weight was dragging me back, and I started falling behind. Fang saw this, so he took her from my arms, and we both raced off towards this water source.

I looked back, and could see the erasers catching up to us. Apparently they can run faster than us as well as swim. "Keep going!" I yelled. "They're gaining on us!" I informed them, hopping over fallen trees and logs while pushing through bushes and branches. Up ahead I could see a break in the trees, the sky beginning to turn into a yellowy shade due to sunset.

"Almost there!" Gazzy shouted back to me, also seeing the clearing in the woods.

"Here, fishy, fishy, fishy!" An Eraser called out to me, tauntingly.

I paced myself a fraction of a second faster, pushing my legs to move. The break in the trees was so close, I could see the blue of the ocean water. Catching up to Nudge, I placed a hand on her back as I ran, pushing her faster with me as I saw that she was slacking a little.

As we broke free from the trees and onto sand, I immediately took a look around. In front of us was a small stretch of a beach. On either side of us was more and more woods. I saw a few Erasers break into the clearing, too, so there was only one way out of this. That was through the ocean.

Every possibility of what may happen shot through my mind in a split second. If we go through the ocean, there may be other Erasers out there, only it would be worse because they would be fully morphed. Plus, there's the fact that Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel can't swim fast or hold their breaths for long. But those thoughts were quickly shoved down when I saw that there was no going back through the woods now, and I sure as hell wasn't handing us over to the School.

I pointed at the ocean and yelled, "Dive!"

They immediately followed my orders. Gazzy grabbed Iggy's hand and dove into the water, Nudge following. I made sure Fang jumped in with Angel before I dove right in, and I morphed the second I was fully submerged.

"Follow me!" I shouted to everyone, my voice as clear as crystal. Fang was keeping up, but the other three weren't, so I took hold of Iggy's and Nudge's hands, and pulled them along, Gazzy holding on to Iggy's other hand. Not too long after, I had to go up with them so they could get air.

As we broke the surface, I did a 360, scanning potential threats. Looking back toward shore, I saw the erasers already swarming into the water after us. Panic shot through me as I realized we had no where to go, except the open sea. "Max," Nudge said, inhaling oxygen deeply. "Where are we gonna go now?"

"I'm not sure, baby, but I'm gonna figure it out," I said honestly.

"Wait," Fang said quickly. "I know a place, but its deep. Can you guys hold your breaths long?"

"Yeah," Angel said from his arms.

"Alright, lead the way!" I said in a hurry. He nodded, and dove under water once everyone held their breaths.

Swimming as fast as we could, Fang and I dragged the others through the water, deep deep down to the bottom of the ocean. Nudge tapped my hand twice, signaling that she was running out of breath. "How much further?" I called to Fang.

"Almost there!" He called back, and up in the distance I could see a very tight gap between the ocean floor and the side of a mountain face. Our bodies would be slim enough to get through, but can't say the same for the erasers. Who, by the way, were gaining on us steadily. I looked over at him to see how Angel was doing, and I could see she was out of breath. She began pounding on Fang, but it was as if he didn't notice.

"Fang, they're gonna drown!" I screamed, terrified.

"No, they're not. Trust me." He said with such sincerity and confidence that I had no choice but to believe and trust in him. I know that they all heard him, yet Iggy and Nudge were pounding on my hands now, and I looked back and saw Gazzy unmoving, as if he had drowned already. Panicked, I looked back at Angel, and saw that her thrashing was weakening, as if she were dying, too. I pushed myself faster, willing my fins to propel through the water. I swam right past Fang, who looked on with awe at how fast I was going, but it didn't seem fast enough. Iggy and Nudge had also stopped pounding on my hands, and that drove me faster.

From my peripheral vision, I saw glowing lights similar to the light when I had first developed. I looked back, and saw sweet relief. The rest of my family had morphed!

Iggy had a really long, white tail with a black stripe running down the length of it. Nudge had a short, bronze colored one with a pink stripe down it. Gazzy's was an almost neon green color, with black polka dots scattered all over. And Angel's was a shiny white color with her fins colored purple. I sighed a huge sigh of relief, but never stopped swimming. They all had bright smiles plastered on their faces, and I saw their urges to swim freely in their eyes, but I couldn't let go. If I did, they'd be too slow.

I pushed them through the trench, Nudge first, then Gazzy and Iggy, and turned around to make sure that Fang and Angel were alright. I saw that I had left them in the dirt...or should it be bubbles?

Swimming back at full speed to reach them again, I yelled, "Take my hand!" I held out my hand to him as I saw the Erasers directly on his trail, and lots of them.

He took my hand, and I couldn't help but notice the contrast in size. His strong fingers wrapped firmly around mine, and the warmth was welcoming.

Shaking my head to bring me out of that brief trance, I grabbed hold of his hand, and pulled back with all of my strength, then twisted around and swam as fast as I could to the gap. "How are you going this fast?" Fang asked, his hand in mine whilst his free hand was holding onto Angel.

"I don't know!" I yelled back. "Just go with it!"

We approached the gap, and I pushed him and Angel in first. Following closely behind, I swam through, too, and met up with Fang and the rest of the group at the deepest point. "Through here, follow me," Fang instructed, leading the way through a hole in the rocky wall. I made sure everyone got in safely before joining, swimming very carefully past the jagged, rocky surface of the wall. Fang covered it up behind me with a boulder just big enough to conceal the edges of the hole.

"Wow, Max, look at me!" Angel said, twirling through the water. Her short, curly blonde hair floated out around her head like a golden halo.

"You're beautiful, sweetie," I said, quickly complementing her before turning to Fang. "What is this place? And how did you know it was here?"

"Its a secret passage that I discovered while I was looking for a place to hide." He said simply.

"And where does this lead?" I asked, gesturing down a long, narrow tunnel.

"You'll find out," he said, and the kids took off one by one down the tunnel, Gazzy forcing Iggy to follow.

"Wait, guys!" I called out to them, but Fang put his arm in front of me gently to stop me from stopping them.

"Don't worry," he told me, "they can't be harmed here." His eyes found mine, and a sense of comfort flooded through me. "Trust me."

"I do," I said softly, my heartbeat fluttering at how close we were, and how deeply he saw into me. The reaction my body was having to him was making me almost...afraid. He continued to stare into my eyes, and by now my breathing had hitched, my gills seemingly unable to work. He placed his hand on one of my shoulders, and I felt my face flush. I had no idea what in the world he was doing to me, but I was captivated.

"Are you guys coming?" A voice said suddenly. Both Fang and I jolted, him instantly retracting his hand from my arm, to see Iggy waiting a little ways down the tunnel.

I had to clear my throat before I said, "Yeah, we're coming now, go on ahead."

Iggy agreed, however reluctantly, and swam back down the tunnel very carefully.

"We should go," I said to Fang, a bit awkwardly. He nodded his head, and gestured for me to go first down the tunnel. I swam off at a normal speed this time, noticing the sharp rocks that jutted out of the sides of the walls. What if an Eraser were to cut themselves on them trying to capture us? I smiled evilly. That would make my day.

"MAX!" I heard Angel scream. I faintly heard the rushed chatter of the rest of the kids, too.

"What?" I yelled back, swimming at super speeds again down the dark, dark tunnel, worried of what was happening. Are they in danger? Did someone get hurt?

When I reached their location, I stopped short. I could not believe the sight before me.

**Am I forgiven? O.O **

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**Kaythanks:)**

**|;|**

**V**


	13. Hideout

**Hey guys! Sorry it has taken so long AGAIN for me to update, but i have a lot of things to deal with and take care of, and I'm trying to squish everything in. Also, I wrote this chapter I-don't-even-know-how-many times even though it's just a filler chapter. But I promise to update a lot faster and next chapter is gonna be much better. **

What I saw before my eyes amazed me.

At the end of the long tunnel, there was a little cove. The pressure in there was enough to keep the water at a certain level. I surfaced, noticing lit torches on the walls and the smooth stone land area, not being too big, but cozy. The torches lit up the clear, blue water, and vines ran along the rocky walls. The ceiling was high in some areas, mostly in the center, and the walls literally sparkled. It was the most beautiful sight I've seen in my whole life.

"Isn't it pretty, Max?" Angel called to me from where she swam on one side of the cave.

"Its...breath taking," I said, marvelling over the extraordinary scene.

"I want to live here, Max! We definitely could!" Nudge said.

"Well, we're going to have to stay here for at least the night," I informed them, seeing Gazzy help Iggy manuver around and describe what it looked like to him. "If that's alright with Fang?" I asked looking over at him.

"Its not my place, its ours now," he said, looking at me intently. Goosebumps and shivers ran down my arm as I smiled back at him.

I nodded once, "Its settled then." Angel and Nudge squealed in delight. "But nobody better leave this room! I mean it! Don't even travel down the tunnel without me, you hear?"

"Ay ay, Captain!" Gazzy saluted.

"Whatever you say, Maxie," Iggy cheesed.

"Of course!" Angel replied.

"No problemo!" Nudge said, thinking she actually spoke spanish then.

"Lo siento mi amor, pero no puedes hablar el espanol," I told her.

"Huh?" She looked at me with the silliest face.

"Huh what? And don't make that face, or it'll be stuck like that forever."

"Max, you just spoke spanish," Iggy said, looking at me strangely, too.

"I did?" Everyone nodded, confused. "Oh, that's cool."

"When did you learn to speak spanish?" Iggy asked.

I shrugged, and pulled myself up to sit on the stone ground, "I didn't."

"That doesn't make sense?" Said Gazzy as if he were asking himself if it actually did make sense.

"Yes it does," Fang said.

"How?" Angel asked.

"That's just something that comes along with the scales," he explained. "You develop certain abilities."

"Really?" They all screamed together. He nodded his head. "So," Nudge started. I rolled my eyes and picked my legs up out of the water, laying down to look up at the wonderous ceiling. "Does that mean that I'll be able to speak French?"

"Not necessarily," said Fang.

"What do you mean?" Nudge whined.

"He means that it varies with who you are," I explained further, saving Fang from wasting vocal notes. "Just because I can speak Spanish now doesn't mean that you're gonna speak French. You could speak Portugese, Russian, German, or maybe you won't even learn a new language, you'll just be able to talk to fish or something," I shrugged. "Maybe you won't gain any abilities at all."

"What?" Iggy said. "So you're saying that we might not be able to do anything new, while you're sitting over there chattering away in a different language and that might just be the start to your new abilities!"

"Hey," Fang defended me, joining me on the cool, stony surface. "Don't get mad at her, its not like she was given a choice."

Iggy picked himself up out of the water, too, standing up. "Do you think I was given a choice for any of this? Do you think I chose to have my sight stolen away from me by mentally unstable, demented, evil scientists? Does it look to you like I wanted this life of running and fighting and never knowing when's the last time you'll see the sun? Well guess what, buddy, I found that out when I was a little child!"

I was sitting up at this point, looking worriedly at Iggy, and Fang picked himself up to stand next to Iggy. "Do you blame Max for that?" Fang asked calmly.

"Of course not," he slumped his shoulders, defeated. "But it would be nice if we could have extra advantages, too."

"Yeah, like heat vision!" Gazzy suggested excitedly. Everyone laughed.

"Sure, Gazzy." I said, and the way his face lit up brought pain to my stomach. I got his hopes up, only to give fate the opportunity to crush all of his hopes, dreams, and desires. My smile faltered, and I had to look at the stony surface that i sat on to swallow my guilt.

"YEAH!" He yelled, punching the air. "I'm going to be a superhero!"

"More like super villain!" Nudge teased.

"Even better! From this day forth, you shall all refer to me as 'Captain Terror'!" Gazzy yelled, showing his 'muscles'.

The rest of the gang continued joking around as I got up and clapped my hands, gaining their attention. "Okay, guys, its been a long day, and tomorrow's going to be even longer. So come on, and let's get some shut-eye."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Gazzy saluted me.

"That's 'mam, yes, 'mam to me Gazzy, because I'm a girl." I corrected him.

"You are?" Iggy pretended to be shocked, and I smacked him over the head while the kids giggled.

"Yes, I am, thank you very much!" I said. "Now, scoot your boot and get comfortable so you can get some sleep."

"But, Max," Iggy started, "I'm wearing shoes..." That earned him a kick in the rear as the kids giggled even harder. "Ow...okay I was just saying, geesh! You don't have to be so violent and aggressive!"

"And you don't have to be so..." I trailed off, looking for the right word instead of calling him 'immature'. Wouldn't want to hurt his feelings now, would we?

"Nice comeback." Yes, we would.

"Immature!" I yelled impulsively, to which he responded with a gasp and a, "Oh, no you di-int!", which I just ignored. Angel laid down against the wall, comfortable with something next to her. Nudge laid down on the other side of her just in case, but giving her some extra space, because, well we don't want Angel waking up to a broken nose if Nudge punches her in her sleep...

Gazzy laid down a little further towards the very back of the cave, but still close to us. Iggy knew to lay down near him in case of anything, also. I laid down right next to the edge of the water, because you never know. Fang looked a little uncertain as to where he should sleep, so I waved him over to me. He obliged, and laid down near me, giving me a few inches worth of space. I smiled small at him, "It's always good to have somebody with you."

"Yeah," he agreed, and shot a meaningful glance at me. He quickly averted his eyes to stare up at the ceiling.

"Trying to sleep over here!" Iggy yelled obnoxiously, and i just barely managed to kick his leg.

"Hey, Fang?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna play a game?"

"Sure; what is it?"

"I don't know, I just made it up right now."

"Okay? How do you play?"

"I ask you a question, and you have to answer truthfully, and then you have to ask me a question that I have to answer truthfully, and so on."

"Okay, but is there a point to this game?"

"I want to know you better. My turn! How long ago did you escape from the School?"

"Not too long ago; I'd say about two months give or take."

"You've been there for sixteen years?"

"Yeah, but it's my turn. I get to ask two questions now," he teased. "Why did you forget me?" He asked seriously.

"Fang...I was just a little kid."

"So you didn't really care?"

"What? Of course I cared! I remembered being around other kids, searching for the little black haired boy, but I never found him, and eventually I just figured that you were taken somewhere else..." Now I felt like punching my ignorant self over and over. "My turn," I said. "If you think I abandoned you and are so hurt by it, why did you come and find me?"

Fang stared at me for a second, and he opened his mouth to answer when Iggy interrupted, "Not to be so annoying for now, guys, but can you please shut up? I have better hearing than any of you-and, come on! We all have genetically enhanced hearing-and my ears are even MORE sensitive due to the fact that, you know, I lost my sight. So even though you are whispering, I can hear everyword loud and clear, and I really want to get some sleep. So, be quiet. Get it? Got it? Good. Goodnight!"

"I thought that was Nudge for a second," Fang said, and we both chuckled. "Goodnight, Max."

"Goodnight, Fang."

"GOODNIGHT!" Iggy.

**Review please, even tho it sucked D: ! Reviews really do help :) Next chapter will be better, trust me. :D**

**Kaythanks:)**

**V**


	14. Nightmare

**Soooo, last chapter was pretty boring, if you ask me. But, I really needed a filler chapter so theat they could get some type of break :) Thanks for all the reviews! **

That night, I dreamed.

_Swim! Come on, swim! You know you can do it._

I was in the ocean, my fin propelling me furiously through the water. My gills ached as they desperately tried to give oxygen to my body. My arms burned as they pushed the water in front of me aside. My senses were on hyperdrive as I raced for my life. My goal was to escape, and nothing else mattered.

My tail muscles aching as I pushed harder through the water? No problem.

My gills burning, my body aching for oxygen? No biggie.

My body being crushed by the water pressure as I dove deeper into the ocean? I can manage, as long as I put as much distance as I could between myself and the Erasers.

I looked back, to see the open jaws of the sharklike, fully morphed Erasers gaining on me. They're maniacle laughs were enough to make the strongest man alive's heart stop. But I just went faster, ignoring the pain throbbing all throughout my aching body.

Suddenly I was enveloped in a too narrow tunnel; its surface was jagged and sharp. Although it sratched my skin and was too difficult to swim through, I knew I had to keep going. I looked back behind myself again, seeing the Erasers swimming with ease trough the tunnel, yet they were at least three times the size of me. They swam with an even more ferocious will, smelling my thin streams of blood in the water. I faintly saw a dim light coming from the end of the tunnel, and so I pushed myself faster, willing myself to keep going, for whatever waited for me at the end of this tunnel was better than being caught by them.

_Sharks, sharks, go away. Let me live another day._

I got closer and closer to the end of the tunnel, the light growing more intense the closer I got. I looked back yet again only to see the teeth of the head Eraser about to clamp down on my fin. That was when I exited the tunnel, the white light blanking everything out, and one thing was in my thoughts:

I wasn't going to die today.

I woke with a gasp, sitting up quickly, feeling adrenaline pulsing throughout my body. I looked around the little cave, seeing all of my family sleeping peacefully. I hated having nightmares; I always woke up feeling a second away from death.

_Note to self: Learn to have lucid dreams. _

I crawled onto my knees and looked into the water that I slept next to. I felt little beads of sweat trailing my face, so I scooped up water in my hands and rinsed the sweat off. I slid my fingers along some areas of my face, noting all the cuts, welts, and scrapes that adorned me. I sighed; who knew what was to face us today. Oh well, whatever awaited us will be dealt with; its time to face the music.

"Rise and shine!" I called out to everybody, standing up. Even though we hadn't been bothered by the School for a few years, (let's say six maybe?), we all still knew of the dangers that lurk and the fact that we were never safe. So my family and I were able to awaken at the drop of a pin.

My eye twitched, as I looked over at Nudge, still sleeping. She takes the longest to get up, especially when she knows she technically doesn't have to. I walked over to her and said, "Come on, sweetie! It's another day, time to get up and face it." She yawned, and I knelt down and massaged her shoulders to help her fully wake up.

"Max?" She asked groggily.

"Yeah, honey. Wakey wakey," I said cheerfully, although I dreaded the day.

"Maax?" Gazzy asked while yawning, rubbing one of his eyes with a fist.

"What's up Gaz?"

"I'm hungry."

"Yeah, Max," said Angel. "What can we eat?"

"Anyone up for tuna?" Fang asked rhetorically from the edge of the water.

"Nah, dude," Iggy chirped. "I'm in the mood for pancakes."

"Iggy," I started, "where the heck are we gonna get money? It's not like it grows on trees." He shrugged, indifferent, but I knew he still wanted the darn pancakes. Everyone stared at me expectantly, and I inwardly dubbed myself the leader. A plan crossed my mind suddenly, and I grinned widely; almost evilly. "I got an idea."

* * *

I decided it was safe enough to leave our little sanctuary, and led my family out the other side of the gap. Fang had closed off the entrance to the tunnel behind us, and stayed in the back, just in case. We surfaced near the edge of one part of the woods where we got out. We hiked through the trees and shrubs on high alert; every little snap of a little twig, or any ruffle of leaves, and our heads snapped towards the source of the disturbance. The only time we made a slight noise, it was to move a low branch out of our path.

We finally came to the side of the road, much further down from where the car crash took place. On the side of the road was a sign that read:

'Restaurants and Gas 1 mile'.

"Well, guys," I said, jerking my thumb in the direction of the sign. "Guess we're walking!"

The walk wasn't bad, as it was only a half hour walk, and so far no sign of Erasers. Count our blessings, huh?

We came across a little plaza, where many restaurants and a gas station were located. "Pancakes?" I asked the group, and they whooped. In the center of the shopping plaza was our destination: an IHOP. Basically, we could not have made a better decision as far as breakfast went. Remind me to thank Iggy.

As you should already know, we are not exactly comfortable, or, I don't know, safe in crowded areas, such as stores, restaurants, and basically everything that has walls and people. If we don't have clear exits, our claustrophobia kicks in to the extreme, and we would not be able to run from the scene without handing out beatings to whomever stood in our way. so, trust me when I say that both Fang and I got twitchier the closer we got to the place, and I could feel Iggy starting to regret his suggestion.

"How are we gonna get cash, Max?" Fang asked.

"Over there," I said, watching two men arguing in a corner of the parking lot. With my super sensitive hearing, I could hear their argument from the other end of the parking lot clearly. One man appeared to be in his fourties, with a stubbly chin. He was much bigger than the other man, who looked like he was in his early thirties and seemed to be the stereotypical highschool nerd back in his day. The older man was yelling at the other man, clearly dominating the argument.

"I had obviously had my signal on! What are you, blind?" The older man yelled. The younger man simply said nothing, looking intimidated. "Better stay the hell off the road then, idiot! Go get another parking space!" The younger man scrambled back into his car and drove away quickly. The older man, or should I say the jerk, went into a little mini-mart. I led the others over to where his car was parked, and looked through the windows. I did a quick 360, making sure that no one would catch me as I opened the passenger door as the others stood by.

"Max," Gazzy said unsure. "What are you doing?"

"You saw that jerk," I said. "Don't worry about it." I searched the glove compartment, and sure enough there was a little white packet with the name of a bank on it. I opened it up, revealing a little sum of cash mainly consisting of a few fifty dollar bills. My eyes narrowed, and a little successful grin came over my face as I said, "Bingo."

"Pancakes, here we come!" Said Nudge.

**So, not a good chapter, but it will have to do for now, since I'm trying not to get too far behind on updates again. If you noticed, I tried adding in some ideas of the real Maximum Ride, so remember that I don't own it or IHOP, even though I'd loooove to own them both! So please let me know what you think...Review, please! :D**

**Kaythanks:)**

V


	15. Breakfast

**Thanks to all my lovely reviewers! I literally smacked myself when I forgot to mention KayKay0829! Thank you, my awesome reviewer for reviewing and bringing me joy, especially when you said you love all my chapters :D its a really great feeling to know that people enjoy what you write, so I can't thank you enough!**

**Also, check out my story Room Raiders. I'm writing it for Project PULL ;) **

**Please review and let me know what I could do to make this story better, because I honestly am becoming so unsure of this story :/ .**

I swear, Life honestly hates us.

I say this because we can't even enjoy syrup-smothered pancakes in a pancake restaurant without someone or something trying to kill us. For example, once we obtained money from the parking space jerk, we headed in to this fine establishment. Of course, Fang and I did 360s to scout for every escape, obstacles, and/or threats and dangers.

"How many?" A nice-looking waiter asked me. He was cute, but definitely not model-status, so I didn't worry about him being an Eraser.

"Six," I said.

"Follow me," he smiled and led us to a table towards the back. Obviously there wasn't going to be any nearby escapes, because, you know, why would anything be easy for us mutant freaks? We sat down as the waiter handed out menus. "Hello, I'm Thomas, and I'll be your server for today," he said. "Could I start you off with something to drink?"

"I want a chocolate milk!" Nudge said excitedly.

"Gimme a Coke, please," said the Gasman.

"Pepsi's better than Coke, so I'd like that," came Iggy.

"No way! Coke is definitely better!" Gazzy argued.

"If you prefer a lot more carbonated water, then yes, Gazzy, it certainly is," Iggy said patronizingly. "However, Pepsi has more flavor and all in all is just plain better than Coke."

"Na-AH!" Gazzy retorted childishly, and they continued arguing.

"May I please have an orange juice?" Angel asked sweetly, trying to cut off the argument.

"Certainly," Thomas said, scribbling it down on the notepad. His brow twitched at the two's foolish argument. Everyone knows Pepsi's better. "The kids orange juice?" He asked pointedly towards me.

"Nah," I said. "The larger the better. In fact, you might want to triple everyone's drink orders."

His expression was dumbfounded. "Uhm...okay? What would you like, miss?" He smiled warmly.

I smiled back and answered, "Orange juice. Gotta love it."

"I know what you're talking about," he laughed and then winked at me. He then turned to Fang. "And for you, sir?"

"Water," he said simply, staring down Thomas with a grimly dark calmness.

The waiter swallowed. "Okay, be right back with your orders." He turned and swiftly walked towards the kitchen.

"Okay, what are you guys going to order?" I asked, looking down at my own menu. I knew for sure that almost all of them were going to get pancakes, and I knew I couldn't resist their fluffy deliciousness. Of course I was going to get scrambled eggs and bacon with them. Yummy.

"I'm not sure," Nudge began. "Like, I know this place has a specialty of pancakes, but there's just so much stuff to order. Mmm, look at the T-bone steak and eggs combo. I feel like I can eat the whole cow! Which, I probably could. Although I wouldn't because that's horrible, I mean they're living animals with minds and families. Okay, I made my mind up. I'm just going to have pancakes. With lots of syrup."

"I want the biggest stack of pancakes they have," said Gazzy adorably. "If that's okay, Max?"

"You can have whatever you want. We're covered with the money. Unless, you know, somehow we all order over $500 worth of food. That would be bad." I said.

The waiter came back with our drinks. It was pretty funny, because there was only six of us, and they needed three trays to carry all of the drinks at once, so you should have seen the other two waiter's faces when they saw us. They put the drinks down on the table, and then scurried away with confused expressions. Thomas was determined to do his job, though, and I had to respect him for that. "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes," Angel started first. "I would like the stuffed french toast combo and a silver five."

"That's a lot of food, little missy," Thomas commented disbelievingly.

"She knows," I said. "Don't worry, she'll eat all of it and still have room for dessert." Angel nodded her head and her blond curls bobbed while she sipped on her orange juice. Thomas forced a smile, although it was more like a grimace, and wrote it down on his note pad.

"Me next!" Gazzy called out. "I want a create-a-face-pancake-thingy and a bacon temptation omelette." The waiter looked to me and I nodded my head with an amused smile, and he scribbled it down in his handy-dandy notebook.

"Okay," Nudge began. "I was going to get the waffle thing, you know, the one that starts with a 'B' that I can't really say. Bell-gee-an? Belgian? I think? Anyways, I want that with strawberry banana french toast." Thomas, assuming that I was going to say that's okay for her to order, quickly scribbled the order down on the paper without missing a beat at all.

"My turn," Iggy said. "I want a huge pile of pancakes drowned in syrup with a hint of butter on each pancake and a drizzle of powdered sugar for emphasis. Sliced bananas should be topped on with whipped cream and a side of bacon."

"Wow, Igs, let's not be too specific," I laughed. Thomas wrote down the order carefully, making sure to have every detail. "Your turn," I smiled to Fang who sat right next to me.

"I want two orders off the CINN-A-STACK french toast," he said simply. Thomas nodded, adding that to the two-page long order.

Thomas looked up at me and gave me a sweet smile. "And for you, miss?"

"I want the Bacon Temptation omelette with the pancakes. I want extra bacon strips, too. A lot. Thanks," I smiled back.

"Sure thing. Let me just have your menus and I will bring out your orders...shortly," he said and left with our menus and orders.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he goes through these kinds of situations everyday," Iggy said from across from me. I laughed at that; sure their food is delicious, but I doubt that six minors come in and order enough food to feed thirteen people for themselves.

"Sure, Iggy," I said. "I hope that the bill isn't more that $100 bucks."

"He'll probably give you a discount," said Fang. "You two sure seemed to get along comfortably."

"What?" I asked, confused, but Iggy cut in with a "We'll just have to order a good amount of dessert then!" All the kids laughed and agreed. What felt like an hour later, but really was only about twenty minutes, Thomas came back with a tray of food.

"Not to sound rude," I began, "but we ordered a lot more food than that."

"I know," Thomas said, setting down half of everyone's orders accordingly. "But I had to split the order into two seperate ones so that my boss doesn't get angry," he explained.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if I were to have kept it all one order, my boss would have came to your table and told you to leave because he doesn't want to waste food."

"Oh," I said dumbly. Then I realized just what he did for us, and I smiled big, "Thank you, Thomas."

He winked and smiled back, "You're welcome." With that, he left to get the other half of our order.

"That was nice of him," Angel said from the other side of the table. I nodded, smiling, and then eyed my scrumptious-looking omelette. The whole table dove into their food, and I followed, not really caring about table manners. At all.

I looked over at Fang's french toast. My stomach flipped when I saw that they were cinnamon french toasts. Fang saw my desire, and cut off a piece of his french toast sticks and put it in my plate next to my omelette. I smiled brightly at him, and cut off some of my omelette to give to him, but there was no where to put it on his plate without getting syrup all over the bacony, cheesy eggs of deliciousness. He opened his mouth, and I stuck my fork full of heaven into his mouth. He swallowed and grinned at me, and my stomach did another flip. I decided it was time to taste the cinnamon toast from France, and popped it into my mouth. I almost moaned from its deliciousness.

Thomas came back with the rest of our orders, and I swear I almost stole Fang's second plate of cinnamony goodness, but he caught me and almost let me have them, and then he remembered that he's mean and kept them. I almost melted when he cut off another piece of them for me.

And here's the exciting part: What's a nice meal without people trying to kill you?

Oh, you'd rather eat your meal in peace with the people you love? What a shame.

However, in my life it seems that that is an impossibility, and I learned that when an extremely handsome male came in through the door. He was accompanied by a girl, which was shocking. I tapped Ig's hand twice, and he nodded. I knew for a fact that they were Erasers when they walked towards us and sat in a two seater table near us. Normal humans wouldn't be able to recognize the slight difference in the pupil of their eyes, or the miniscule gaps separating their teeth, which also happen to be sharper than the average human. No normal human could identify the difference in the shape of the face, but as genetically enhanced mutant freaks, we all could. Save for Iggy, of course, but he's blind.

I whispered in a voice so low that only my family could hear, "I'm going to count to three, and on three I want you all to run out the door." I had began pulling out two hundred dollar bills to pay the bills knowing that it would be way more than enough. Everyone kept eating as if they hadn't heard me, and I whispered, "One," I took out the money, "Two," I placed the money on the table discreetly, "Three!"

Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel pushed out of their chairs quickly, knocking them to the floor and rushing for the door. Fang quickly got up less noisily and bolted for the door as I ran around Iggy's chair and he held onto my belt loop. I saw the two Erasers jump up and start to chase after us, so I ran even quicker, tipping other chairs over and plummeting through waiters and customers. Heads snapped up and eyes stared as we made our insane escape, but it didn't matter. All that mattered is that we got out of there with our lives.

**Enjoy and remember: REVIEW :D**

**Kaythanks:)**


	16. AN

Hiya!

Listen, its been a while. Nearly three months o.O but honestly I am bored of this story and no longer wish to continue it. I have so many other story ideas in mind, and I just can't bring myself to write more for this story. Sorry, all you lovely people out there, but it has to be done.

Maybe I'll continue it if I ever feel the desire to. Maybe someone is willing to take over?

I feel really bad about this, but why should I keep you all waiting for a chapter that might not ever come?

Thanks, I appreciate all of you and your kind reviews.


End file.
